United States Legal System
'The legal system in the United States is an often-uneasy balance of national government and the governments of the fifty states. There are parallel systems of executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, and shared powers among the states and the federal governments.'
Read more about the U.S. Legal System and free sources of Law at A Guide to the U. S. Federal Legal System Web-based Public Accessible Sources (July/August 2018, Globalex)
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Key databases
- HeinOnlineProvides searchable access to full text digitized legal journals, reviews and case law, predominantly published in North America.
- Legal Information Institute (LII)Free access to US case law and legislation
- LegalTracProvides indexing and selective full-text for all major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals and legal newspapers.
- Westlaw US & InternationalAccess to United States state and federal primary legal materials, foreign primary and secondary legal materials, and several legal encyclopedias.
Resources
Values in the Supreme Court: Decisions, Division and Diversity by ISBN: 9781509921881Publication Date: 2020
The Role of Circuit Courts in the Formation of United States Law in the Early Republic by ISBN: 9781509910885Publication Date: 2018
Judicial Restraint in America: How the Ageless Wisdom of the Federal Courts was Invented by ISBN: 9780195340341Publication Date: 2011
Methods of Interpretation: How the Supreme Court Reads the Constitution by ISBN: 9780195377118Publication Date: 2009
- American JurisprudenceEncyclopedia containing over 400 separate titles on a broad range of legal topics.
- Corpus Juris SecundumCorpus Juris Secundum is a legal encyclopedia covering state and federal legal topics.
Federal
The United States Code (USC) is freely available online via:
The United State Code Annotated is available online via:
Session Laws (Public and Private Laws) are freely available online via:
State
State codes are freely available online via:
Information on the Federal court system can be found online:
Authorised Reports
- United States ReportsAuthorised report series for the US Supreme Court
- Federal Reporter (F 2nd)Authorised report series for the US Court of Appeals
- Federal Report (F 3rd)Authorised report series for the US Court of Appeals
- US ReportsIndexed compilation of the official full text of all decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States
- Westlaw USUS law reports and cases with citation information
Historical case law
- Early American Case LawContains the entire Federal Cases 30 book series (1894-1897) which contains more than 20,000 cases. Also included is the Trinity Series, which includes American Decisions, American Reports, and American State Reports.
- State Reports: An Historical ArchiveProvides a digital version of Hein's State Reports Checklist along with linking to the full text of historical state reports.
- U.S. Treaties and Agreements LibraryThis library includes all U.S. treaties, whether currently in-force, expired, or not-yet officially published. This is the world's largest and most complete online collection of U.S. treaties and agreements and includes such prominent collections as the United States Treaties and Other International Agreements set (commonly referred to as the "Blue set"), as well as famous sets from Bevans, Miller, Malloy and others.
A Practical Guide to Legal Research. Chapter 7 United States by ISBN: 9780455237930Publication Date: 2017
