U. S. Legal Research: Resources at Scribner Library ________________________________________________________


I - Primary Sources

II - Secondary Sources

III - Finding Tools

VI - Alternative Legal Websites

Introduction

Legal research can be a daunting task to the untrained or inexperienced researcher. This pathfinder was designed to guide those uninitiated in legal research methods to basic legal resources on the net and in the Scribner Library of Skidmore College.

Generally, legal research consists of locating state and federal constitutions, statutes, administrative regulations, and/or case law, all types of primary sources. Legal literature can be divided into three categories, primary sources, secondary sources and finding tools. Secondary sources include legal encyclopedias, dictionaries, and law reviews & journals. Finding Tools are usually digests, handbooks, and citators. The LexisNexis Academic (LNA) database contains materials from all three of these categories.

Useful sources for interpreting legal citations are:

  • Prince, Mary Miles. Prince's Dictionary of Legal Citations: a reference guide for attorneys, legal secretaries, paralegals, and law students. [includes in its entirety the 17th edition of The Bluebook].
  • Prince, Mary Miles. Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations: reference guide for attorneys, legal secretaries, paralegals, and law students.
  • Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names, Federal and State

I. Primary Sources

A. Find a Constitution

1. Federal

  • U. S. Constitution
    All U.S. laws must conform with the United States Constitution. State and municipal constitutions and statutes are inferior to the U.S. Constitution.
    A copy of the U.S. Constitution may be found in many places:
  • LexisNexis Academic Legal Research
    • Select Federal & State Codes from right navigation link
    • In Select Sources pull-down menu, select USCS - Constitution of the United States
    • Searching the United States Constitution by citation or topic
  • Constitution of the United States of America - analysis and interpretation: analysis of cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 28, 2002
  • The United States Government Manual
    • On page 5 of the 2007-2008 ed. (Easy to photocopy, unannotated)
      Ref. Desk: Ref. JK 421 A3
    • GPO Access
  • United States Code (USC) Title 1, pages LXXIII - LXXXVII contains an Analytical Index to the Constitution of the United States and the Amendments thereto.
  • Guide to Law Online: U.S. Constitution & Constitutional law
    The Guide to Law Online, prepared by the U.S. Law Library of Congress for the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), is an annotated hypertext guide to sources of information worldwide on government and law available online without charge.

2. State

  • LexisNexis State Capital
    Select Statutes > State Constitutions by Keyword
    This database provides access to bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership and state newspapers for all 50 states.

3. New York

  • LexisNexis State Capital
    Select Statutes > State Constitutions by Keyword > Limit search to New York
    This database provides access to bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership and state newspapers for all 50 states.
  • New York Consolidated Law Service
    KFN5030 1976 .A23 vols. 41d - 42
  • New York State Constitution - New York State Legislature
    Under search, select Laws of New York > Scroll down to miscellaneous and select CNS

B. Find a Statute

1. Federal

  • United States Code
    Subject arrangement of Federal Statutes in 50 titles.
    • Ref. KF 62 2000
    • GPO Access
    • United States Code - via LII
      Searchable full-text of 1994 official version made available by Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School. This site provides easy access to information by allowing the user to view listings, tables, and forms, including a "fast search feature" for quicker topic searches.
  • Statutes at Large
    Chronological arrangement of the laws, in full-text, passed for each session of Congress.
  • U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News
    A commercial and more timely version of Statutes at Large. Also includes legislative histories of laws and reprints some House and Senate Reports, Proclamations, and Executive Orders.
    • Ref. KF 63 U54
  • Slip Laws
    Public Laws published individually in paper, the most recent new laws.
  • Thomas (Library of Congress)
    Provides access to U. S. legislative information, including bills, congressional records, committee reports, and treaties.

2. State Statutes

  • LexisNexis State Capital
    This database provides access to bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership and state newspapers for all 50 states.

3. New York

  • New York Consolidated Laws Service
    Ref. KFN 5030 1976 .A23
  • LexisNexis State Capital
    This database provides access to bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership and state newspapers for all 50 states.

C. Find a Regulation

1. Federal Rules & Regulations

  • Code of Federal Regulations

2. State Regulations

  • LexisNexis Academic Legal Research
    All Federal laws from 1988 to the present. Search the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Attorney General Opinions, and Federal Acquisition Regulations and Supplements. Also has codes for all 50 states and territories.
    • Finding regulations in LNA
      The combined statutes, constitution, annotated code, and court rules file for an individual state can be chosen in the Source Selection box
  • LexisNexis State Capital
    This database provides access to bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership and state newspapers for all 50 states.
    • In left menu, select Regulations > State Register by Keyword or Citation

3. New York Regulations

  • LexisNexis State Capital
    This database provides access to bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership and state newspapers for all 50 states.
    • In left menu, select Regulations > State Register by Keyword or Citation > New York

D. Find a Case

  • LexisNexis Academic Legal Research
    U.S. Supreme Court decisions from January 1790 to present, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions, U.S. District Court decisions from 1789 to present, and state court decisions at all court levels for all 50 states and territories.

1. Federal Case Law
Scribner Library has in hardcopy the case law reports for the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Tax Court, only. All other federal case law must be retrieved electronically via LexisNexis Academic Legal Research

    • United States Supreme Court reports, Lawyer's Edition
      • Ref. KF 101 .U58 (2nd Series)
      • Ref. KF 101 .U5812 (Lawyer's Edition 2d)
      • Digest of United States Supreme Court Reports
        An index and Table of Cases to the Supreme Court Reports, L. Ed.
        Ref. KF 101.1 D32
    • OYEZ Project
      The Oyez Project is a multimedia archive devoted to the Supreme Court of the United States and its work. It aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955.
  • Tax Law:
    • CCH Internet Tax Research Network
      Provides access to CCHs federal and state tax libraries, offering tax news, explanations and analysis, cases, and other primary source material.

2. State Case Law

  • LexisNexis Academic Legal Research
    U.S. Supreme Court decisions from January 1790 to present, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions, U.S. District Court decisions from 1789 to present, and state court decisions at all court levels for all 50 states and territories.

3. New York Case Law

  • LexisNexis Academic Legal Research
    U.S. Supreme Court decisions from January 1790 to present, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions, U.S. District Court decisions from 1789 to present, and state court decisions at all court levels for all 50 states and territories.
  • New York Court of Appeals:
    • Reports of cases decided in the Court of Appeals of the state of New York
      • KFN 5047 N56
      • KFN 5047 N561 (2nd Series)
    • Shepard's New York Court of Appeals Case Names Citator
      • Ref. KFN 5045.2 S532 1986
  • Appellate Division (AD):
    • Reports of cases decided in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, State of New York
      • KFN 5048 N56
      • KFN 5048 N561 (2nd Series)
  • Supreme Court:
    • Reports of selected cases decided in courts of the State of New York other than the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
      • KFN 5047 N562
      • KFN 5047 N5621 (2nd Series)

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II. Secondary Sources

A. Law Journals/Law Reviews

B. Shepard's Citations

Shepard's Citations contain prior and subsequent history and all citing references for a case. Shepardizing is the process of using Shepard’s Citations to determine the validity and/or status of a case or legal authority, in other words a way of tracking the law to see if it is still “good” law.

  • Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names, Federal and State
    Useful for identifying correct citation for acts and cases which can then be used to locate the full-text.
    Ref. KF 90 S538

C. Legal Encyclopedias

  • West's Encyclopedia of American Law
    A useful introduction to American Law for the non-lawyer.
    Ref. KF154 W47 2004
  • The Guide to American Law : everyone's legal encyclopedia
    The predecessor to West's Encyclopedia of American Law
    Ref KF156 G77 1983 and supplements
  • Cornell Legal Research Encyclopedia
    A compilation of United States and International legal resources including print, microform, CD-ROM, WESTLAW, LEXIS and the Internet. Citation to research tools and direct links are provided.

D. Legal Dictionaries/Thesauruses

  • Black, Henry Campbell. Black's Law Dictionary : definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern
    Ref. KF156 B53 1979
  • Burton, William C. Burton's Legal Thesaurus
    Ref. KF156 .B856 2007

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III. Finding Tools

A. Legal Research Handbooks

  • Garvin, Peggy. Real World Research Skills: an introduction to factual, international, judicial, legislative, and regulatory research.
    Ref. ZA5110 .G37 2006
  • Gibson, Ellen M. New York Legal Research Guide
    Ref. KFN 5074 G53 1998
  • Olson, Kent C. Legal Information : how to find it, how to use it
    Ref. KF 240 O365 1999

B. Attorney Directories

  • West Legal Directory
    This site from the West Group allows the user to locate information about law firms, government officers, and corporate law offices, in the United States and Canada. A useful Site Map provides a variety of sources to assist the user in conducting legal research.

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IV. Alternative Recommended General Legal Research Sites

  • FindLaw
    The FindLaw Guide to Internet legal resources includes links to resources in over 30 practice areas, case law and codes, legal associations, law schools, law reviews,and more!
  • American Law Sources Online - LawSource.com
    Provides a comprehensive, uniform, and useful compilation of links to freely accessible on-line sources of law for the United States and Canada.

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Last Updated September 10, 2008
Page maintained by Barbara Norelli