Law

Disclaimer

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:40:21 -0700

UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW DISCLAIMER: It is against state law for library staff to engage in any conduct that might constitute the unauthorized practice of law (ORS 9.160, 9.166 and 9.21). They may not interpret statutes, cases, or regulations, or advise patrons regarding their legal rights. They may, however, assist patrons in locating materials or links that would aid in individual research.

Overview

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:30:43 -0700

Law, according to a definition from the website of the New Jersey Legislature, is "All the official rules and codes that govern citizens’ actions, including the Constitution, statutory laws enacted by the Legislature, case laws established by court decisions, and administrative law as set forth by executive branch agencies." (http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/glossary.asp, 9/3/08)

There are many different flavors of the the law--property law, criminal law, constitutional law, administrative law, and so on. But for our purposes we have divided them into two sections: case law, and statutory/regulatory law.

Indexes and Finding Tools

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:03:45 -0700

See under the various tabs in this guide for more suggestions.

General and Decennial Digests
KF141

Oregon Digest
KFO2457 .O71
Digests contain short case notes arranged alphabetically by legal subject and indexed by keywords.Also includes table of cases volume to locate citations by case name.

Shepard's U.S. Supreme Court Names Citator
KF101.2 .S51
Allows you to retreive citation if you know the name of a case.

Shepard's United States Citations
KF101.2 .S53, KF101.2 .S54 or LexisNexis

Shepard's Pacific Reporter Citations
KF135 .P22 S529
Citation indexes list cases (and statutes) only by citation, not by case name. Once a citation is located in Shepard's, you can locate subsequent cases that cited the case of interest and can determine the current status of the case of interest. It can also be used to locate lower court opinions on the same case.

Corpus Juris Secundum (legal encyclopedia) (Cancelled in 2007)
KF154 .C56 1936
Arranged by subject, in alphabetical order, CJS states a general principle of law, followed by exhaustive case references in footnotes. Use the general index if the subject you are looking for does not appear in the main volumes or if the subject is too broad to be easily covered.

Blue and White Book
K .P21 1928
Cross references citations for Oregon Reports and West's Pacific Reporter.

The bluebook : a uniform system of citation
KF245 .B58
Guide to legal citations and abbreviations. Only latest edition is kept.

Law Databases

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:19:53 -0700

Also check two new databases from Gale: Criminal Justice Collection (1980-present) and LegalTrack (1980-present) (http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/research.php/subject.php?sname=28)

Law Reference

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:21:30 -0700

General Reference Works

Oxford Reference Online Premium brings together reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource. The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. In Law, these include:

The Oxford Companion to American Law
A Dictionary of Law
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed. (KF156 .B53 2004)

LAW.COM online dictionary

Legal systems of the world : a political, social, and cultural encyclopedia / edited by Herbert M. Kritzer. 4 vol. (K48 .L44 2002)

Bills

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:23:04 -0700

Federal

Senate Bills (S.B.) and House Bills (H.R.): Federal Legislation before the U.S. Congress

from 1989 on LexisNexis Congressional
summaries from 1973 on the Thomas web site
published version from 1993 on GPO Access

Congressional Record (CR): Official proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress; includes the text of some bills

Library owns in paper from v.1 (1893) J11 .R5
in LexisNexis Congressional under Daily Congressional Record & Rules from 1985
in GPO Access since 1994 (v.140)
on Thomas from 1984

Oregon

Senate Bill (or Measure) (SB) and House Bill (or Measure) (HB) - Oregon legislation, 1995-present (Ref JK9076 .A5 or on the Oregon State Legislature website)

Other Sources for Bills and Legislation

LexisNexis Congressional - Index to Congressional publications--reports, hearings, and documents. Indexed by subject, name, and bill, Public Law, and report numbers. Includes legislative history for "significant" laws of a given year. 1970-present.

Rules and Regulations

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:25:07 -0700

Federal

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) - Subject arrangement of rules and regulations of U.S. government agencies (Ref KF70 .A22; also on LexisNexis Congressional, LexisNexis Academic , and GPO Access)

Federal Register (FR) - Daily listing of federal agencies' proposed and final rules and regulations. Use as a supplement to update CFR (J1 .A2; older eds. on microfiche; also on LexisNexis Congressional, LexisNexis Academic and GPO Access)

Oregon

Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) - Text of rules of Oregon state agencies. Not all rules are included. (Ref JK9030 .A219, or on the Oregon State Archives page)

Laws and Legislation

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:25:19 -0700

Federal

publication path of federal laws:

Slip law -> Statutes at Large -> U.S. Code

United States Code (USC) - Federal laws currently in force (Ref KF61 .U51 or on GPO Access)

The United States Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided by broad subjects into 50 titles and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. Since 1926, the United States Code has been published every six years. (GPO Access page)

United Stated Code Annotated (USCA) - Federal laws currently in force, annotated with reference to federal and state court reports (KF62.5 .W45)

United States Code Service (USCS) - Similar to USCA (on LexisNexis Academic under Legal Research/Federal Code/U.S. Code)

U.S. Statutes at Large (Stat.) - Official publication of all public and private laws of the U.S. in chronological order, 1789-present (KF50 .U5, or 1789-1875 online from the Library of Congress )

Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage. Until 1948, all treaties and international agreements approved by the Senate were also published in the set. In addition, the Statutes at Large includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Indians and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations.(Library of Congress' American Memory Project page on Statutes at Large)

U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) - Laws arranged by Public Law number, plus legislative histories, 1968-present (KF48 .W45)

Oregon

Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) - Oregon laws currently in force (Ref KFO2429 .O73 or on Oregon.gov )

Overview

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:20:18 -0700

The term Case law refers to the legal interpretations contained in the decisions of courts as applied to a specific set of facts.

For a fine tutorial on doing legal research, visit the University of California-Irvine Libraries web page. Cases and Digests is found here .

Finding a Case in LexisNexis

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:57:50 -0700

OSU's primary access to case law is the LexisNexis Academic database. It includes a comprehensive Legal Research section that allows you to access full text of court cases by topic or by case name and number, as well as providing access to law journals and reviews.

Click on the Legal tab to get access.

Here you can search Law Reviews (the default search) as a guide to finding important legal cases or law related to a particular legal topic. You can also choose to search:

Federal & State Cases This allows the user to search for decisions from all federal court level cases (Ex: Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, District Courts, Bankruptcy Courts, Tax Courts, Customs Courts, Military Courts, etc.) and/or to search state court and appellate court decisions by keyword, case name, citation number, or by name of the judge, counsel or firm.

Shepard's^TM Citations: "Shepardizing" is a way to make sure that a case has not been overturned. It ensures that a case is still "good law." Shepardizing also allows the user to find additional cases that stand for the same legal principle as the original case.

You may also search for tax law, Canadian court cases or legislation, International law, and patent law.

Law Reporters

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:58:34 -0700

Case Law Reporters in the Valley Library

While case decisions are widely available online (such as in LexisNexis Academic), the print citation is still used to identify a particular case. You can then enter this into LexisNexis to retrieve the text of the decision.

One way to find the full citation is to use a printed book called a reporter. Reporters usually contain reports from appellate courts in specific geographic areas and specific jurisdictions. There are separate reporters for state courts and federal courts, and, as the legal field increases in complexity and specialization, there are a number of speciality or subject reporters.

United States Reports (U.S.) - Supreme Court Decisions (Official) KF101 .U58 or LexisNexis
OSU has: vol. 284-date (1931-date)

Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.) - Supreme Court Decisions (Unofficial) KF101 .A322 or LexisNexis
OSU has: vol. 1-120 (1809-1999)

Federal Cases (Fed.Cas.) - Important Federal Cases,
1789-1880 K .F295
OSU has: vol. 1-30

Federal Reporter, 1st-3rd series (F., F2d, F3d) - U.S. Courts of Appeals KF105 .F432 or LexisNexis
OSU has: vol. 1-222 (3rd series) (1880-2000)

Federal Supplement (F. Supp.) - U.S. District Courts, etc. KF120 .F42 or LexisNexis
OSU has: vol. 1-108 (1932-2000)

Oregon Reports (Or.) - Oregon Supreme Court (official) K .O78 or LexisNexis
OSU has: vol. 1-231 (1853-1964)

Pacific Reporter, 1st-3rd series (P., P2d, P3d) - Oregon Supreme Court (unofficial) KF132 .P2 P32 or LexisNexis
OSU has: vol. 1-46 (3rd series) (1884-1999)

Other state reporters exist and you may sometimes see abbreviations for them. The best place to look for those citations is in LexisNexis Academic under the Legal tab.

Finding a Case Online

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:24:14 -0700

Internet sources for Case Law include:

Supreme Court decisions from 1990-present as well as some Circuit Court and some States' Supreme Court decisions are available on the Internet. Click on the Law on the Internet tab to see a list of links to these decisions.

Oregon Case Law: State of Oregon Law Library Digital Collection "contains unofficial copies of Oregon Supreme Court (SC) and Court of Appeals (COA) Briefs and Opinions. Briefs coverage begins approximately May 2007, continuing to the present. (COA Briefs start with 212orapp488; SC Briefs start with 342or1). The long-term goal is to include Briefs back to the mid 1980's. Opinions coverage is 1998 to present." Recently added are

Oregon Voters' Pamphlets for Marion County elections.

Case Law

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:06:35 -0700

The Supreme Court

Supreme Court decisions from 1893 - present are available on FindLaw.
Supreme Court decisions from May 1990 - present are available at Cornell University's Legal Information Institute. This site also provides information on the current Justices, and links to legal information by subject.
Supreme Court Decisions from 1937-1975 (U.S. Reports volumes 300-422) are available on the FedWorld web site and on GPO-Access.
More information about the Supreme Court, including current court calendar, can be found on their website at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/index.html

Circuit Courts (U.S. Courts of Appeals)

Federal Circuit Court opinions are available from Findlaw.

State Courts

State courts can be located by going to the Resources by Jurisdiction page on FindLaw, clicking on the state and finding the link for Courts.

Regulations

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:13:44 -0700

The Federal Register on GPO-Access
The Government Printing Office's database provides access to the full text of the Federal Register from 1994 to the present.

The Code of Federal Regulations

OMB Circulars from the White House website

Environmental Regulations
From the EPA Web server, a searchable index of environment-related information from the Federal Register.

Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR)
Browsable by part number. Files available in html or pdf format.

OSHA regulations
Regulations, laws and standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Law Directories

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:15:37 -0700

Federal Web Locator
from the Center for Information Law and Policy

Europa
European Union Homepage - includes the Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and other bodies of the European Union (EU).

Legal Information Institute
from Cornell Law School

FindLaw
Directory of legal information on the Internet, including cases, law schools, firms, association, information by subject, and much more.

Directory of Legal Academia
A directory of law professors and law librarians in American law schools. From the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University.

Law by Subject

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:18:56 -0700

Environmental Law

Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Defense Fund

The European Environmental Law Homepage

Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius Environmental Deskbook

National Resource Defense Council Homepage

Sierra Club Homepage

Copyright Law

The Copyright and Fair Use site at Stanford University provides links to copyright law sources.

Oregon Law

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:20:07 -0700

Bills and Laws

Oregon Revised Statutes

Oregon Administrative Rules

Opinions of the Oregon Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Tax Court

Legislation and Statutory Law

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:21:50 -0700

The U.S. Code, Bills and Public Laws on GPO-Access The Government Printing Office's Wais databases provide access to the full text of Congressional Bills from the 103rd Congress forward, Public Laws of the 104th forward, the U.S Code since 1994, as well as several other databases. Also available from several Federal Depository Library Gateways.

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet Includes full text of legislation from the 101st Congress onward, lists of "hot" bills by topic, number and short or popular title, the Congressional Record, Committee information, and more.

The U.S. Code (From the Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives) This server provides full text searching of the Code.

The U.S. Code Hypertext version of the Code from the Legal Information Institute.

The House of Representatives - Internet Law Library Includes selected historical and current laws by source and title.

State Legislatures, State Laws and State Regulations Links to legislative resources on the Internet for all 50 states. From the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC.

Google and Law

Valery.King@oregonstate.edu (Valery King) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:49:01 -0800

As of 11/17/2009, according to the Official Google Blog, people will be able "to find and read full text legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts using Google Scholar. You can find these opinions by searching for cases (like Planned Parenthood v. Casey), or by topics (like desegregation) or other queries that you are interested in."

Read more about this new Google service on the Google Blog, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/finding-laws-that-govern-us.html.