Legal Sources
For more on legal sources see: Library Research Guide for History 97g: "What is Legal History?"
Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute Archives include legal "briefs," transcripts, and motions in cases reported in the Civil Liberties Docket since 1955-1966
When a case is appealed to a state or Federal appelate court, the opinion is often published and always published when appealed to the state supreme court. All US Supreme Court opinions are published. The opinions of appellate courts have the force of law within the jurisdiction of the court. The body of these appelate decisions constitute common law.
LLMC Digital
Go to Online Services, then Browse Collections. A rich source of legislative and judicial documents. Coverage varies widely by state or country.
- Choose Advanced Search
- Select a Specific Content type: Legal
- Narrow to cases on left.
- Enter your search terms
- Narrow as needed on left
This is a vast database, and searching All Fields often yields too many hits. Limiting to (Party) Names often is best.
Although Nexis Uni is the most comprehensive source we have available, many, especially older sources are not included. To see if a particular source is included:
- Top left:: Open Menu, choose All Sources
- Narrow by:
- Category: Cases
- Choose Jurisdiction
- i gives details of source
- \/: Get documents retrieves all cases in source. Can narrow by date, search within results, etc.
The first part of the Case comprises secondary material added by NEXIS Uni, and, further down, by the state court. The actual opinion begins: OPINION BY: ... OPINION
Topical Searches: Subject terms for additional searches may be drawn from the preliminary secondary material. Note Core Terms. Under Advanced Options, then Build Your Own Segment Search, you can select Core Terms. You can limit the search to Legal Topics.
Note Shepard's on upper right of each case record. This box contains citations of your case by subsequent cases and in the law review literature.
Caselaw Access Project (1658-2018) includes all official, book-published US case law. Includes all state courts, federal courts, and territorial courts for American Samoa, Dakota Territory, Guam, Native American courts, Navajo Nation, and the Northern Mariana Islands.