This is a basic introduction to legal research using subscription databases and freely available online resources. Please be aware that laws vary by jurisdiction; this guide only provides general information. Consulting a local law library is highly advised for comprehensive research, especially for complex topics. Remember to evaluate the reliability of online legal sources.
Primary law refers to the official legal texts issued by government bodies, as opposed to secondary sources that interpret them. The U.S. legal system, comprising federal, state, and administrative law, is built on four primary sources:
Constitutions (e.g., the U.S. Constitution)
Statutes (legislative laws)
Includes versions of the United States Code going back to 1994.
U.S. session laws on govinfo.gov
Volumes of Statutes at Large going back to 1951.
Includes slip laws going back to 1995.
Use this tool from the Legal Information Institute to find primary law sources for each state.
Cases (court rulings)
Supreme Court opinions on the LII website
Many U.S. Supreme Court opinions are available through the Legal Information Institute.
Federal court opinions on govinfo.gov
This site includes a collection of cases from selected United States appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts.
This site offers free access to federal and state court decisions, codes, and regulations.
It is a fully searchable and accessible archive of court data, including growing repositories of opinions, oral arguments, judges, judicial financial records, and federal filings.
Is a free collection of state and federal court opinions, state laws, and the United States Code
Use this tool from the Legal Information Institute to find primary law sources for each state.
Google Scholar can search through a vast but incomplete collection of case law from all jurisdictions.
Regulations and Adjudications (agency rules and decisions)
This is the official version of the CFR which is updated annually.
This version of the CFR is updated continuously. However, it is not the official version of the CFR.
Library of Congress historical CFR collection
This collection includes digitized versions of the CFR from 1938 to 1995.
The official version of the Federal Register, updated daily, going back to 1936.
This is the unofficial web version of the Federal Register and can be easier to navigate than the official version on govinfo.gov.
Use this tool from the Legal Information Institute to find primary law sources for each state.
Effective research hinges on distinguishing between federal and state law and identifying the relevant primary law.
When you need to figure out which laws apply to your situation, secondary sources are your best friend. These resources are anything that is not primary law, meaning they explain, interpret, or help you locate the actual legal texts. Consider these examples:
Starting with secondary sources is often recommended because they act as guides, pointing you to the relevant primary law through citations.
Explore more than 17,000 news, business, and legal sources, including regional, national, and international newspapers.
Full text articles and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals, dating back as far as 1886.
Designed for academic institutions, this multi-disciplinary database is a leading resource for scholarly research with access to 5,500+ full-text journals. It supports high-level research in the key areas of academic study by providing journals, periodicals, reports, books, and more.
This comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national, and international levels. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts, and videos.
More than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts.
Create an account for unlimited access to WSJ.com on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices, including the WSJ mobile app, which features the MyWSJ personalization tool.
