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AMERICAN LAW

These websites discuss a variety of resources: "Gateways," directories, federal government resources, academic library "pathfinders."  The jurisdictional scope of almost all sites is for federal law, state law, or a combination of these; there is minimal coverage of municipal law.

This guide was created with Internet accessibility in mind; all sites are free-of-charge.  Many legal meta-sites and general legal guides also have links to American law.  It is also good to remember that since many of these resources are available on "gateways" and directories, there is an inevitable amount of overlap and duplication.


BUBL Link/5:15 Internet Resources: United States Law

• Lists to a variety of websites, mostly for federal legal resources or topical issues
• While the number of sites is limited to 28, the annotations which accompany all sites are excellent
• Great selection of links makes this site very useful for beginning research


Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

• Sponsored by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration, and the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)
• This site makes the full text of the CFR available online
• Links to 50 titles representing topical areas subject to federal regulation
• Each title is subdivided into chapters, which allows access to the issuing agency for relevant regulations
• Allows searching by citation or keyword
• One of the federal government's most popular sites


Federal Government Resources on the Web: Laws and Regulations

• Created by the University of Michigan Document Center (UMDC)
• This well-organized site provides links to the Constitution, federal laws and regulations, a variety of legal topics impacted by federal legislation, and treaties
• Annotations are excellent
• Links to other federal government pages created by UMDC
• Outstanding; as with all UMDC sites, this one is very well-organized, thorough and easy-to-navigate; a "must" for anyone interested in research on American law on the federal level


Fedlaw

• Sponsored by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
• Created to aid federal lawyers and other federal employees in doing research, this site also provides quick access for the layman to the following: topical/title index, federal laws and regulations by subject category, federal judiciary, legislative branch, arbitration/mediation, "how-to" legal- related sites
• Also links to professional associations/organizations, other federal sites
• Excellent; another one of the best sites for beginning research


Finding Court Opinions on the Web

• Sponsored by the National Law Journal
• "Adapted from the book, The Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web, by Robert J. Ambrogi"
• Links to sites for the following federal courts: U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Courts, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Bankruptcy Courts; specialized U.S. courts (international trade, federal claims, veterans' claims, appeals for the armed forces, tax court)
• Minimal annotations accompany links to federal courts (with the exception of the Supreme Court)
• Links to state courts are often accompanied by short but very useful annotations (especially informative on states' supreme/appeals court; multiple site sources are often included)
• Excellent; does an admirable job of covering the federal court system but links to the state court systems are especially useful


Findlaw: State Resources

• Provides access to a wide variety of state legal and government information
• Links to state data by primary materials (cases, codes and regulations), government information, bars and associations, courts, law schools, and other sites
• Also links to state attorneys general, state statutes, state constitutions, state corporate information, state tax information
• Searchable
• Outstanding; one of the best sites for a state's legal information combined with other state government links


Full-Text State Statutes and Legislation on the Internet

• Sponsored by Prairienet
• One of the earliest legal/governmental sites for state information, this page links to full-text documents for each state in the following categories: constitutions, statutes (a.k.a. codes), legislation (bills, amendments), session laws (enacted laws), and administrative rules
• Comprehensiveness of a state's links vary from state to state
• This site is also cached on Google
• Excellent; very useful for basic state legal information


Guide to Law Online: United States

• Sponsored by the Law Library of Congress
• Links to law-related sites for the Constitution, executive/judicial/legislative branches of the federal government and to state government legal sites
• Not annotated
• Especially useful for links to the federal judiciary
• Section on the Constitution is outstanding, containing information on court decisions, historical background and analysis/commentary
• Also links to other online guides/lists to U.S. law
• Excellent; one of the best sites of its kind


Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions

• Sponsored by Phillips Nizer LLP; authored by Martin H. Samson
• "Extensive summaries of over 310 court decisions shaping the law of the Internet"
• Covers such topics as copyright, encryption, meta tags, terms of use, venue, etc.
• Each court decision includes a brief synopsis; some are linked to full text
• Searchable
• Does an admirable job of covering legal developments in this area of the law


Law by Source — State Law Collection

• Sponsored by Cornell University Law School's Legal Information Institute (LII)
• State-by-state links to state constitutions, statutes, pending information, judicial opinions, regulation, additional collections of state legal resources (state government homepages, bar associations, attorneys general offices)
• Also links to states' business financial laws, commercial codes, family/matrimonial laws, probate laws
• May be browsed by jurisdiction, uniform law locators, state statutes by topic
• In keeping with LII's standards of high-quality, easy-to-navigate legal resource pages, this site is one of the best places to begin any sort of state legal research


Legal Research Guide: Statutory Law and Legislative Information

• Sponsored by the Virtual Chase (Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersol)
• Covers official federal/state legal sites as well as directories
• Includes annotations (which provide excellent information on a site's issuing agency/sponsor)
• Outstanding; does a great job of discussing many of the best sites on federal/state legal resources


Meta-Index for U.S. Legal Research

• Sponsored by Georgia State University College of Law
• "Only specifically legal indexes in the U.S. are included"
• Includes links to case, statutory and regulatory law, including U.S. circuit and bankruptcy courts (not often found elsewhere)
• Not extensive, but a great place to begin research; very user-friendly


Pathfinder: United States Law: Basic Online Research

• Created by Andrew Larrick for the Internet Public Library (IPL)
• "This pathfinder is intended to help members of the general public learn where to find the basic, major, sources of law and to find books and web-sites that can help explain the basics of the legal system"
• Concentrates primarily on free sites; "largely ignores" fee-based resources
• Primary emphasis is on Web resources, with limited commentary on print resources
• "Introduction" provides an excellent overview of the American legal system
• "Primary Sources" provides an analysis of the following: constitutions, statutes (federal, state), case law, court information, administrative law
• "Secondary Sources" discusses online research guides, books, journal articles, dictionaries and encyclopedias
• Commentary on links for both types of sources is succinct and clearly written
• Complements "Update to a Guide to the U.S. Legal System"
• Outstanding; does a superb job of making research for American law comprehensible; mandatory for anyone desiring an understanding of this category of law


Rutgers University Libraries: Subject Research Guides: Law

• Maintained by Paul Axel-Lute, Rutgers University Law School Library; original guide by Steven C. Perkins
• Directory of links to a wide variety of sites pertaining to 9 legal resource categories: "United States Federal Law" and "Law of Other States" are the sections pertinent to this guide
• "United States Federal Law" provides extensive links to the following: the Constitution, federal statutes/legislative information, federal regulations, presidential documents, court rules, court decisions/briefs/arguments, administrative decisions
• "Law of Other States" links to 10 academic and professional organization sites which provide access to various aspects of state laws
• Also links to professional associations/organizations, law schools, legal journals, legal lists/newsgroups, legal publishers/booksellers
• Excellent; provides an efficient arrangement of resources pertinent to the resources of this guide; links to other areas of the law (foreign, international/human rights, etc.) are also very useful


Selected Municipal Codes Online

• Sponsored by Seattle Public Library
• "Links to city and county codes available for unrestricted searching on the World Wide Web"
• Currently links to codes from 29 states
• Not extensive, but very useful for what it covers


State Resource Center

• Sponsored by LexisOne
• "State Resource Center" is comprised of two directories, the "State Resource Center" and the "Legal Web Site Directory"
• The first section of the "State Resource Center" – "General State Resources" – links to state constitutions, state court directories, and state/national resources (annotated links to some of the best state/national legal sites)
• The second section - links to individual states – includes the following: state home pages (with links to Census sites), statewide offices, legislative/judicial/executive branches, rules of courts/forms, boards/commissions, regional/county links, libraries; also links to U.S. territories
• "Legal Web Site Directory" links to 18 categories of legal information, including "Most Visited Sites," court decisions, practice areas, codes/statutes, legal/business/government forms, legal journals/law reviews bar resources
• Outstanding source for extensive, direct links to a wealth of state and legal sites; easy-to-navigate


Supreme Court Collection

• Sponsored by the Legal Information Institute (LII), Cornell University
• Links to "all current and historic decisions"
• Since Supreme Court decisions are available from multiple resources (often with overlapping "time frames"), this page comments on and links to these varied resources and does an admirable job of "walking" the researcher through resources, for the most productive research experience
• "Collection of Historic Decisions" links to "over 600 of the Court's most important decisions from the founding of the court to the present"; retrievable by opinion, author, party name, topic
• Also includes Supreme Court calendar, biographical information on justices, information on the Court's development, Court rules, glossary
• Outstanding; does a masterful job of arranging these resources into a coherent, user-friendly format


THOMAS-Legislative Information on the Internet

• Sponsored by the Library of Congress
• Laws can be traced from initial stages (committees, proceedings, proposals) until the final passage and enactment by House and Senate
• Full-text of all bills for the current session back to the 104th Congress available
• On-line accessibility to the Congressional Record
• Voting records of congressmen and senators available
• Also links to official federal sites for executive and judicial branches, state resources, historical documents
• Outstanding; the best source for accessing congressional legislative information


Topical Index: State Statutes on the Internet

• Sponsored by Cornell University Law School's Legal Information Institute (LII)
• Links to state laws in 38 topical categories, from agriculture to water codes
• Also links to state constitutions, legislative information, judicial opinions, and other state legal resources
• In keeping with LII's standards of high-quality, easy-to-navigate legal resource pages, this site is one of the best places to begin any sort of state legal research


Tribal Court Clearinghouse

• Created by Tribal Law and Policy Institute
• "Devoted to providing information to people working in Native American Tribal Courts"
• Links to 550 Native American Nations
• Includes information on federal laws and pending legislation of interest to Native Americans, Supreme Court Decisions, state laws and topical legal issues (gaming, etc.)
• Also includes "Headline News" section to keep abreast of relevant developments
• Best resource for all aspects of federal laws pertaining to Native Americans


Update to A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System

• Created by Gretchen Feltes, New York University School of Law Library, for the Law Library Resource Xchange (LLRX)
• Updated in October 2003; revised annually from originating document (2001)
• "This guide is intended to direct legal research through publicly accessible web-based databases"
• Links to sites for the following branches of the federal legal system: "Legislation," "The Judiciary," "Executive Branch and Administrative Law"
• Administrative structure of each of the three branches is explained in a clear manner with excellent commentary
• Primary resources linked to this page are federal documents; also provides links to meta-sites which contain significant material on the federal legal system
• "Legislation" category does an exceptional job of outlining the path of federal legislation from its inception to its enactment; also links to "Historical Documents"
• Includes links to academic and professional sites which provide tutorials on conducting federal legal research
• Complements "Pathfinder: United States Law: Basic Online Research"
• Outstanding; one of the best guides for understanding the federal legal system; highly recommended


Websites discussed on this page are for informational purposes only. Johnson & Wales University Library is not responsible for the accuracy, content, or stability of any websites linked to this page. When in need of legal advice, consult a legal professional.

Compiled by Rick Keogh 6/00; updated 7/04; links last checked 9/07

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