United States Legal System Chart
Statutory Research
Federal Administrative Law
Court Decisions
Case Citators
Court Rules
Secondary Sources
Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation. XXKF4527.U540, D'Angelo Law Reference. Available through GPO Access on the Internet at: www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/
Constitutions of the United States, National and State (2 vols., looseleaf) XXKF4530.C6 1962, Reserve Room.
United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) and United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) both feature an Annotated Federal Constitution. Wilson Reading Room, ranges 5-7.
Annotated state constitutions are included in the annotated codes for the individual states. For a list of those available on the Internet, see the Law Library's State Law and Government research guide.
National and state constitutions are also available on LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Statutes at Large (Stat.) is annual publication containing public laws published in chronological order. XXKF50.U55, Wilson Reading Room, ranges 2-3. Also available on HeinOnline for volume 1 (1789) through volume 119 (2003-2005).
United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN), published monthly, is usually the most current print source for recent U.S. laws. XXKF Wilson Reading Room, range 1.
On LexisNexis, you may look up a PDF version of any public law using the Get a Document form with the Statutes at Large (Stat.) citation or public law number.
Public Laws, beginning with the 104th Congress, are available through GPO Access:
www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html
Public Laws, beginning with the 93rd Congress, are available at Thomas. Full text of laws from the 101st Congress (1989) to the present, and summaries of public laws from the 93rd Congress (1973) to the present.
http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d110/d110laws.html
United States Code (U.S.C.), Government Printing Office, 6 year revisions with bound cumulative annual supplement. (Wilson Reading Room, ranges 3-4) and also on the GPO Access web page at www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html and at Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute web page at http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.), Thomson West. (Call Number XXKF65.W48; Locations: Wilson Reading Room, ranges 6-7; fifth floor stacks; Westlaw database: USCA)
United States Code Service (USCS), LexisNexis. (Call Number XXKF65.L39; Locations: Wilson Reading Room, ranges 5-6; LexisNexis)
How to locate laws in U.S.C. (including the web version), U.S.C.A., and U.S.C.S. (also available on Westlaw and LexisNexis)
Statutes and codes are published by all 50 states. The D'Angelo Law Library has annotated codes for every U.S. state and territory. LexisNexis, Westlaw, and LexisNexis State Capital also provide all state statutes, most of them with annotations.
The state Internet sites vary widely in their coverage of state statutes; for a current list of available statutes, see the DLL page on State Law and Government: www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/state.html
Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated. LexisNexis. Wilson Reading Room, range 41.
West's Smith-Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated. Thomson West. Wilson Reading Room, range 41.
Illinois Legislative Service. Thomson West, monthly. The most current print source for recent Illinois session laws. Wilson Reading Room.
Laws of Illinois. Annual. Permanent official session laws of Illinois, K324.
Illinois General Assembly web site: www.ilga.gov/
United States Government Manual. (Reference) Directory of government agencies and officials. JK421.A35 Law Reference. www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/
GPO Access Executive Branch Resources: www.gpoaccess.gov/executive.html
DLL Web Page: www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/usgov.html
Most agency actions are governed by the Administrative Procedures Act, codified in Title 5 USC
Federal Register (Fed. Reg., FR) issued daily M-F, published since l936. Monthly and annual index. Includes all federal agency regulations and proposed regulations and all presidential documents. Wilson Reading Room, range 8. www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 50 titles each issued annually on a quarterly schedule. CFR is a codification of all federal agency regulations currently in force. Wilson Reading Room, range 7. www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/
List of Sections Affected (LSA). Pamphlet updating the CFR; compiled annually in the back of each CFR title; monthly and daily in the Federal Register. Wilson Reading Room, ranges 7-8. www.gpoaccess.gov/lsa/
LexisNexis and Westlaw provide both the Federal Register, from 1981 to date, and the Code of Federal Regulations. Hein Online has the PDF images, and searchable full text, of the Federal Register from 1936 to 2007, the Code of Federal Regulations from 1938 to 1985, and also the List of Sections Affected (LSA) for 1949 to 2000.
Most federal agencies publish reports of their own rulings, decisions, and orders, such as the Decisions of the National Labor Relations Board. Most agency decisions are also printed in looseleaf services and their companion topical reporters.
Westlaw and LexisNexis have the full text of most administrative agency decisions, opinions, rulings, and orders.
Many agencies publish decisions on their web sites:
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/usgov.html
Structure of a Case - Example: Newdow v. Congress, 292 F.3d 597 (9th Cir. 2002).
Structure of a Case Reporter
West's Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct. or Sup. Ct.) Thomson West. Available on Westlaw, database SCT. Wilson Reading Room, ranges 12-13.
U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers Edition (L.Ed. or L.Ed. 2d), LexisNexis. (Includes summaries of attorney's briefs and case annotations) Available on LexisNexis and LexisNexis Academic. Wilson Reading Room, ranges 10-11.
United States Law Week (USLW). BNA looseleaf and database, excellent source for current decisions; includes docket information, summaries of arguments. XXKF101.1.U53 Law Reserve.
The LII Supreme Court Collection, hosted by the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School - an Internet "reporter" which allows the user to browse cases by subject, name, or date. From 1990 to current plus historic decisions: http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html
Findlaw - allows interactive searching by citation, name, and keyword. From 1893 (150 U.S.) to the present. www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html
Supreme Court web site. Slip opinions, from the 2003 term to the present, and PDF versions of bound volumes of the official US Reports from volume 502 (October 1991 term) to the most recent. www.supremecourtus.gov
LexisNexis and Westlaw provides opinions within minutes of being issued by the Court.
Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d) Thomson West. Most Courts of Appeals cases, from 1880 to the present. Wilson Reading Room, ranges 13-19.
The Emory Law Library's Federal Courts Finder has links to all circuits' slip opinions www.law.emory.edu/FEDCTS/
Federal Supplement (F.Supp., F. Supp.2d) Thomson West. District Court cases, 1932 to the present. Wilson Reading Room, ranges 19-25.
Federal Appendix. (Fed. Appx.) Thomson West. Cases from the United States Courts of Appeals not designated to be published in the Federal Reporter. XXKF105.W472 Fifth Floor.
Federal Cases. (Fed. Cas.) Reprint of federal district and circuit court cases published before the inception of the Federal Reporter. Wilson Reading Room, range 13.
The D'Angelo Law Library's Federal Courts page provides links to available district and bankruptcy court opinions: www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/courts.html
LexisNexis and Westlaw contain both published and unpublished decisions of the lower federal courts.
Atlantic Reporter (A., A. 2d) Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont. Fourth Floor North, ranges 1-3.
California Reporter (Cal. Rptr., Cal. Rptr. 2d., Cal. Rptr. 3d.) 1960 to the present. Covers all California State courts. Fourth Floor North, ranges 4-6.
New York Supplement (N.Y.S., N.Y.S. 2d) 1888 to the present. Covers all New York State courts. Fourth Floor North, ranges 6-9.
North Eastern Reporter (N.E., N.E. 2d) Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York Court of Appeals, Ohio. Fourth Floor North, ranges 9-10.
North Western Reporter (N.W., N.W. 2d) Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin. Fourth Floor North, ranges 11-12.
Pacific Reporter (P., P.2d, P. 3d) Arizona, California Supreme Court, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming. Fourth Floor North, ranges 13-15.
South Eastern Reporter (S.E., S.E. 2d) Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia West Virginia. Fourth Floor North, ranges 15-16.
South Western Reporter (S.W., S.W. 2d, S.W. 3d) Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas. Fourth Floor North, ranges 17-19.
Southern Reporter (So., So. 2d) Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi. Fourth Floor North, ranges 19-21.
All state supreme court and appellate court decisions are published in Thomson West's regional reporters. Half of the states also publish official reports. LexisNexis and Westlaw contain all reported decisions of the 50 states, from statehood to the present.
Illinois Appellate Court Reports (Ill. App., Ill. App. 2d, Ill. App. 3d) Illinois Appellate Court official reporter. Advance sheets combined with Ill. 2d advance sheets. K330.A9, Law Stacks.
North Eastern Reporter (N.E., N.E. 2d) Thomson West. Unofficial reports. Includes Illinois Supreme Court and Illinois Appellate Court decisions. Fourth Floor North, ranges 9-10.
Illinois Decisions (Ill. Dec.) Thomson West. Unofficial reports. Weekly advance sheets. Includes Illinois Supreme Court and Illinois Appellate Court. K330.D31, Law Stacks.
Slip opinions from 1996 are available at the official site of the Illinois courts.
LexisNexis and Westlaw contain all reported Illinois court decisions
Links to available state court decisions are available on the D'Angelo Law Library State Law and Government page.
Digests are print subject indexes to case law, published by Thomson West, which are used to locate court opinions. Digests are published for both federal and state courts.
The civil procedure, evidence, and appellate rules are published in an appendix to Title 28 of the USCA. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are published in an appendix to Title 18 of the USCA. The Federal Rules are also published in the Court Rules volumes of USCS.
Federal Local Court Rules. A 5 volume looseleaf which has all of the local court rules. This set covers district courts and courts of appeal. XXKF8820.A2 1995, Law Stacks.
Directory of Federal Court Guidelines. A three-volume looseleaf which contains profiles of court judges. For each, contains information on pre-trial and trial procedures as well as motion practice. XXKF8816.D57, Law Reference.
There are two major treatises on federal court rules and court practice:
General rules of applicability for state courts are usually published as part of each state's statutory code, or as a supplement to the code.
For links to Internet sources of federal and state court rules, see the Litigator's Internet Resource Guide: Rules of Court. www.llrx.com/courtrules
Morris L. Cohen, Robert C. Berring & Kent Olson, How to Find the Law. 9th ed. XXKF240.C5830 1989, Law Reserve. (See also the abridged edition, Finding the Law, 12th ed. XXKF240.B452 2005, Law Reserve.)
Cohen, Morris L. and Kent Olson, Legal Research in a Nutshell. 8th ed. XXKF240.C542 2003, Law Reserve.
Roy M. Mersky & Donald J. Dunn, Fundamentals of Legal Research. 8th ed. XXKF240.M472 2002, Law Reserve. (See also the abridged edition, Legal Research Illustrated, 8th ed., XXKF240.M4725 2002, Law Reserve.)
Amy E. Sloan, Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies. 3rd ed. XXKF240.S66 2006, Law Reserve.
Leah Chanin (ed.), Specialized Legal Research. Boston : Little Brown, l987-. Chapters on Securities Regulation, UCC, Federal Tax, Copyright, Federal Labor & Employment Law, Environmental Law, Admiralty & Maritime Law, Immigration Law, Military & Veterans Law, Banking Law, Patent & Trademark Law Government Contracts, Customs Law. XXKF240.S690, Law Reference
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. l8th ed. 2005. XXKF245.B59 2005, Law Reference; Law Reserve; and Law Stacks
Peter W. Martin, Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, 2007 edition. www.law.cornell.edu/citation
Lia Xi & Nancy Crane, Electronic Styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic Information. PN171.F56L50 Law Reference.
Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations. XX KF246.B460 2001, Law Reference.
Black's Law Dictionary. 8th ed. XXKFl56.B5322 2004, Law Reserve, Law Reference. Westlaw. (The standard U.S. work; others include Ballentine, Bouvier, and various British, Canadian and civil jurisdictions.)
BNA's Directory of State and Federal Courts, Judges, and Clerks. Annual. XXKF8700.A19B532 Law Reference.
Duhaime's Law Dictionary
www.duhaime.org/diction.htm
Electronic Dictionaries:
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db/ref/dict.html
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. Annual. XXKF190.M3, Law Reference/ www.martindale.com/locator
Sullivan's Law Directory for the State of Illinois. Annual. KB6901.S54, Law Reference. (Similar directories of the members of the local bar are published in each state)
American Jurisprudence. 2d. (Am. Jur. 2d) Thomson West. XXKF154.A42, Wilson Reading Room, ranges 37-38.
Illinois Jurisprudence. K331.I72 1992, Wilson Reading Room. We also have legal encyclopedias for New York and California, and others are available on LexisNexis or Westlaw.
Legal Encyclopedias: www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db/ref/encyclopedias.html
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2d ed. Thomson Gale. XXKF154.W47 2004, Law Reference.
American Law Reports, Annotated (A.L.R., ALR 2d ALR.3d, ALR 4th, ALR 5th, ALR Fed., ALR Fed. 2d.) Selected court opinions from state and federal courts with extensive annotations explaining and discussing the opinions. Use the A.L.R. Index to identify annotations (long essays) on particular points of law. Also available on Westlaw and LexisNexis. XXKF132.A5, Wilson Reading Room, ranges 28-32.
Many law journals have been in LexisNexis and Westlaw since the early 1980's. Coverage and dates vary for titles.
HeinOnline. A database of law journals that will eventually have full runs of every major law journal in PDF format. Check coverage to date and access at http://heinonline.org.proxy.uchicago.edu/HOL/Index?collection=journals
Some journals have selected recent or forthcoming articles on their own web sites:
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/lawreviews.html
The Library subscribes to all law school published journals and most commercially published journals. The most recent issues (usually the past year) of the most popular journals are shelved in the Reserve Reading Room. Bound volumes are shelved in the stacks by call number.
Legal Trac. Periodical index covering more than 1000 law titles published since January 1980, with full text of a growing number of titles. Also available on LexisNexis and Westlaw as the Legal Resource Index, and in paper as the Current Law Index. infotrac.galegroup.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/itweb/chic89158
Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Periodical index of more than 900 law journals, from July 1981 to the present. Also available on LexisNexis and Westlaw. Use the Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective to locate articles from 1918 to 1981. vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?prod=ILPIN
Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?prod=RILP
Web of Knowledge. The Social Science Citation Index, part of the Web of Knowlege, includes articles published in major law reviews since 1945. Searching is by title keywords. You can also find articles that cite an earlier article or book. isi6.isiknowledge.com.proxy.uchicago.edu/
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. v. l-. Feb. 1960-. Berkeley, CA. : University of California Press.
More legal periodical indexes at: www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db/ej
Major Looseleaf Publishers: Bureau of National Affairs (BNA); Commerce Clearing House (CCH); Warren Gorham & Lamont (WG&L); Research Institute of America (RIA Group).
Several of the major looseleaf publishers now offer a web product. The Library subscribes to the following CCH services:
All available through the Library web page under "databases."
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db
The Library subscribes to the complete library of BNA databases, which can be accessed through the Library's web page: www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db/bna.html
Practice materials and continuing legal education practice guides:
Scholarly and practitioner's monographs & treatises; the most important scholarly monographs and treatises are shelved in the Reserve Room.
Study aids and blackletter law used by students: Casebooks, Hornbooks, Nutshells, Outlines. See Reserve Room for browsing by topic or Hornbooks and Study Aids listed by course at www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/courses/hornbooks.html
Use the library catalog to identify treatises and monographs in our library, and WorldCat to identify books not held in the University of Chicago Libraries. A reference librarian can help you find an appropriate treatise.The Restatements of the Law and the Model Codes are prepared by the American Law Institute (ALI), a private group of practicing attorneys, academics, and judges. The Restatements compile and set out the principles that make up the common law in the following areas: agency, conflict of laws, contracts, foreign relations law, judgments, property, restitution, security, torts, and trusts. Many are in the process of revision and a second edition has been issued for all of the restatements except for restitution and security. The Restatements provide rules, commentary and examples. In addition, the reporters' notes can be very valuable research tools.
Neither a Model Code or Restatement is "law" unless adopted by the court or legislature of a particular jurisdiction, but they may nevertheless be influential tools of judicial interpretation. You can find cases that cite particular Restatement provisions in the Shepard's Restatement of the Law Citations and in the Restatement Appendices. The Restatement Appendices contain reporters' notes and cases that have cited the Restatements.
The ALI, along with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, drafts model codes for particular areas of statutory law. All the uniform laws that have been adopted by at least one jurisdiction are compiled in Uniform Laws Annotated. Note that the U.L.A. volumes include a "Table of Jurisdictions Wherein Act Has Been Adopted" that shows which states have adopted the model code, the code itself, and case annotations on the various code provisions. The Directory of Uniform Acts and Codes pamphlet (shelved with the U.L.A.) provides an index to the various uniform acts and tables showing which uniform acts each state has adopted.
The NCCUSL maintains an excellent web site, www.nccusl.org, which provides the full text of uniform acts, drafts, committee activities and state enactment information.