Legal Research
The following sources can help you find related court cases, legal codes, and scholarly law review journal articles; as well as background information and definitions of terms.
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West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2d edition
- Provides current information on more than 5,000 legal topics; cites relevant cases and statutes. Includes definitions of legal terms and more.
- Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
- Gale Encyclopedia of American Law
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California Law Research Guide
- Detailed guide on how to research California law in the Oviatt Library and online.
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FDsys (Federal Digital System, U.S. Government Printing Office)
- Includes recent primary sources of information from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal government.
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FindLaw Cases and Codes
- Search U.S. and State constitutions, statutes, cases and more. Note: FindLaw is not completely free. If you are prompted for a credit card to retrieve information, don't do it! Use LexisNexis Academic legal research to find similar information about court cases or codes.
- FindLaw U.S. Constitution: First Amendment
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FindLaw Legal Dictionary
- Definitions of legal terms and legal usage from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, 1996.
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LexisNexis Academic
- Use the Find a Case search to quickly locate a court case by name, e.g., United States v. American Library Association or citation, e.g., 539 U.S. 19.
- Use the U.S. Legal search options menu to locate landmark cases, law review journal articles, Supreme Court briefs, U.S. and state Supreme Court and Appellate Court cases, U.S. District court cases, U.S. and state statutes, codes, and constitutions; and the Code of Federal Regulations.
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Supreme Court of the United States
- The official web site of the Supreme Court. In addition to the opinions, you can also read or listen to recent oral arguments presented at the Supreme Court.
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U.S. Law Research Guide
- Detailed guide on how to research U.S. law in the Oviatt Library and online.