Chapter Resources
Part I: Foundation
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Ch 3 - Finding Federal Law
General Secondary Sources for Federal Law American Law Reports — Federal
Government Sites
Secondary Sources on Constitutional Law
Pending Legislation Current Statutes and Court Rules - Print
U.S. Supreme Court - Print Reporters
Reporters
Reporters
General To find the federal agency that might concern your topic. Print
Find a U.S. district court website with the rules. It is likely your local U.S. district court will have a similar page of links to these rules as well as its own local rules.
Ch 4 - Finding State and Local Law All-in-One Websites State and Local Law Most of these sites will give you a list of the names of states; click on the name and you will find a list of links to a specific state’s primary law, and more, such as a listing of the state administrative agencies.
Hard Copy or Pay-for-View Use the annotated code for your state as your first resource. Hard Copy
Hard Copy or Pay-for-View Use the annotated code for your state and any advance sheets or legislative service pamphlets for that code as your first resources. For citations to court decisions interpreting statutes, aside from the annotated codes, use state statutory code citators. Online State Administrative Law, Administrative Codes, and Registers General For court decisions interpreting administrative rules and regulations, use the citator for the state administrative code. Or use the citation to the regulation you are researching as a search query in the case law database of Westlaw Next or LexisNexis.
Online Court decisions from the appellate courts of a particular state may be published in hard copy by the state government in an “official state reporter,” or they may be published only by a private company, or your state may have both. Court decisions from your appellate courts will also be published in hard copy in the regional reporter from West. To find citations to court decisions by topic, consult your state’s digest of case law or the digest for the regional reporter system.
Online Directory
Online Directory
Primary Sources Because of the very localized nature of the materials, your local county law library or public library or city or county building may be the best place to start. Also, the clerk’s office of the city or county in question is a place to begin your query, either in person, on the phone, or on the web. Some of this material—charters, ordinances, regulations—may be published in print and be available at local libraries or governmental agencies.
Primary Sources
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