Law resources for University faculty

The D’Angelo Law Library subscribes to dozens of legal databases with historical and current law and scholarly commentary to support the University of Chicago community. Legal research tools thought of as primarily for the Law School are useful for a variety of scholarship and teaching in other disciplines.

ProQuest’s Legislative Insight, Regulatory Insight and Supreme Court Insight offer efficient and comprehensive ways of exploring legal sources. Legislative Insight organizes the legislative history of each enacted federal law.  You can search by the popular name of the statute (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act), by citation or keyword.  Results include committee hearings and reports, congressional debates and votes, and executive signing statements. Regulatory Insight  connects researchers with federal regulations created pursuant to congressional authority. Supreme Court Insight, which includes opinions, dockets, oral arguments, and briefs from cases from 1975 to 2017, also facilitates understanding the judicial process.

Another core legal resource, HeinOnline, is a treasure trove, from complete back files of academic law journals to historical collections of state and territorial laws to the Pentagon Papers.  Included among the collections are Gun Regulation and Legislation in America and Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law.  HeinOnline has an impressive range: the English Reports, Full Reprint begins with 1220 while the History of Supreme Court Nominations concludes with Justice Elena Kagan.

Searching for “law” in the Library’s database finder tool produces 284 hits, from the American Civil Liberties Union Papers, 1912-1995 to WorldTradeLaw.net.  Explore!

For questions about using legal resources, Ask a Law Librarian.