Research Strategy
Begin your U.S. legal research by finding commentary in secondary sources such as books, legal dictionaries and encyclopedias, books, journal articles, American Law Reports, and Restatements of Law, etc. This approach will help you:
- Become familiar with the area of law;
- Determine whether you need to research federal and or state law; and
- Discover U.S. legal terminologies, which may be different in Australia. You must use the relevant legal terminology to conduct the most effective online searching.
- Find references to the leading primary sources of law including cases, legislation and administrative regulations.
Starting with secondary sources will save you time in the research process, because unlike primary sources, answers to legal questions are more readily available in secondary sources. Secondary sources are based on research that someone else has already conducted and provides you with a more thorough explanation of legal principles.
Basic Legal Research by Call Number: UniM Law 155 G1 SLOAISBN: 9780735576728Publication Date: 2009-02-26
- Secondary Resources for Law Research Guidefor more detailed information on researching secondary sources.
Books
Use the library catalogue to find books discussing U.S. law. Use a keyword or subject search for your legal topic and the terms “United States”. If you find a relevant book, click on the subject headings or call number in the catalogue record to find similar titles.
The following are a sample of recent titles dealing with law and the United States:
Law Professors: three centuries of shaping American law by Call Number: UniM Law 142.6 PRESPublication Date: West, 2017
Benched: abortion, terrorists, drones, crooks, Supreme Court, Kennedy, Nixon, Demi Moore, and other tales from the life of a federal judge by Call Number: UniM Law KB 15 NEWMPublication Date: William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 2017
Enhancing Justice by Call Number: UniM Law KA 28 ENHAPublication Date: Illinois American Bar Association, Judicial Division, 2017.
Inventing American Exceptionalism by Call Number: UniM Law 412 KESSPublication Date: Yale University Press, 2017
The Death of Treaty Supremacy: an invisible constitutional change by Call Number: KM 54 G1Publication Date: 2016
Comparative Constitutionalism by Call Number: KB 177 DORSPublication Date: West Academic Publishing, [2016]
Legal Dictionaries (Print)
Black’s Law Dictionary is the leading legal dictionary in the U.S. The print version of this dictionary is in the High Use section of the Law Library. Along with Black’s Law Dictionary, below are some other print U.S. legal dictionaries:
Legal Encyclopedias (Print)
The following encyclopedias can be found in the Law Library:
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History by Call Number: KL 412 OXFOPublication Date: 2012An authoritative reference work that contains information about the laws, institutions, and actors that have governed America throughout its history.
An Encyclopedia of Human Rights in the United States by Call Number: KM 222 ENCYPublication Date: 2011This resource surveys the legal protection of human dignity in the United States, examines the sources of human rights norms, cites key legal cases, explains the role of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, and charts global, regional, and UN human rights measures.
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions by Call Number: KM 72 OXFOPublication Date: 2009Contains landmark decisions that have shaped American life, described by some of America's most eminent legal scholars. The new edition contains more than 450 entries on major cases, including 53 new entries on the latest landmark rulings. This outstanding guide serves as an excellent introduction to the work of the Court from the late eighteenth century to the present day.
The Oxford Companion to American Law by Call Number: KL 42 G1 OXFOPublication Date: 2002A one-volume, A-Z encyclopedia that covers topics ranging from aging and the law, wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping, the Salem Witch Trials and Plessy vs. Ferguson.
American Law Reports (ALR)
American Law Reports (ALR) is an annotated law report that contain articles (called annotations) on narrow topics of the U.S. law. Although similar to encyclopedic entries, ALR annotations differ in that they are not organized alphabetically, but in the order of when the leading case for the particular topic was decided. Each annotation discusses in-depth a very specific legal concept and provides cases from every U.S. jurisdiction that have taken a position on that topic. Along with citations to cases, the annotations also provide references to statutes, digests, texts, treatises, law reviews, and legal encyclopedias on that topic.
ALR is accessible through the Westlaw International database:
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters)Westlaw (previously known as Westlaw International and Westlaw Next), contains an extensive collection of U.S. state and federal materials, and selected international content from other jurisdictions including Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom, and more.
- Lexis Advance US Research (International)Lexis is an online legal research tool which offers US federal public laws and the US Code Service, as well as US state codes, federal and state registers and state constitutions; over 900 full-text US legal journals and law reviews; and the Shepard's Citator service. The database also contains material from over 150 countries.
Legal Dictionaries (Online)
Black’s Law Dictionary is the leading legal dictionary in the U.S. You can access this dictionary online in the Westlaw International database. See instructions below along with some other U.S. legal dictionaries:
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters)Westlaw (previously known as Westlaw International and Westlaw Next), contains an extensive collection of U.S. state and federal materials, and selected international content from other jurisdictions including Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom, and more.
- Lexis Advance US Research (International)Lexis is an online legal research tool which offers US federal public laws and the US Code Service, as well as US state codes, federal and state registers and state constitutions; over 900 full-text US legal journals and law reviews; and the Shepard's Citator service. The database also contains material from over 150 countries.
- Glossary of Legal Terms - U.S. Courts (free)Contains commonly used terms by U.S. Courts and a short definition.
- Wex (free)A free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts.
Legal Encyclopedias (Online)
Two of the most popular U.S. legal encyclopedias are American Jurisprudence, 2d and Corpus Juris Secundum. These two encyclopedias can be accessed through the Westlaw database - see instructions below.
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters)Westlaw (previously known as Westlaw International and Westlaw Next), contains an extensive collection of U.S. state and federal materials, and selected international content from other jurisdictions including Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom, and more.
- Lexis Advance US Research (International)Lexis is an online legal research tool which offers US federal public laws and the US Code Service, as well as US state codes, federal and state registers and state constitutions; over 900 full-text US legal journals and law reviews; and the Shepard's Citator service. The database also contains material from over 150 countries.
- Encyclopedia of Law & Society: American and Global PerspectivesOffering a greater understanding of American law and society within its historical and comparative contexts, these volumes represent interdisciplinary perspectives on law from sociology criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology and economics.
- The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions (2 ed.)Contains landmark decisions that have shaped American life, described by some of America's most eminent legal scholars. The new edition contains more than 450 entries on major cases, including 53 new entries on the latest landmark rulings. This outstanding guide serves as an excellent introduction to the work of the Court from the late eighteenth century to the present day.
Restatements of the Law
Restatements of the Law are a set of highly regarded treatises on general principles of common law. The Restatements is an attempt to codify case law. They are created by the American Law Institute, a prestigious organization comprising judges, professors, and lawyers. Their aim is to distill the "black letter law" from cases, to indicate a trend in common law, and, occasionally, to recommend what a rule of law should be. In essence, they restate existing common law into a series of principles or rules. Although the Restatements are not a primary source of law, they are considered persuasive authority by many courts, especially the Restatement of Torts and the Restatement of Contracts.
The Law Library has a number of Restatements in print. Search "Restatement of the Law" in the library catalogue to see the full list. However, the most up-to-date Restatements can be accessed online via the Westlaw International and Lexis databases.
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters)Westlaw (previously known as Westlaw International and Westlaw Next), contains an extensive collection of U.S. state and federal materials, and selected international content from other jurisdictions including Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom, and more.
- Lexis Advance US Research (International)Lexis is an online legal research tool which offers US federal public laws and the US Code Service, as well as US state codes, federal and state registers and state constitutions; over 900 full-text US legal journals and law reviews; and the Shepard's Citator service. The database also contains material from over 150 countries.
Journal Articles
Most journal articles will be found online. Search the Law Library's journal articles databases to find articles related to U.S. legal topics. The listed databases below are the best ones for finding articles related to U.S. legal research.
If you cannot an article online, you may want to search to see if we have it in print. Search the catalolgue for the name of a particular journal and if we have it in print, it will be located on level 4 of the Law Library. The new journals display is located in the High Use area on level 3.
- HeinOnline's Law Journal LibraryHeinOnline's Law Journal Library is a full text legal journals database. The collection includes American Bar Association journals, core U.S. law journals, criminal justice journals, international and non-U.S. law journals, intellectual property law journals, and most-cited law journals.
- Gale OneFile: LegalTracLegalTrac provides indexing for major law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association journals and international legal journals. Each title included in LegalTrac is selected on the basis of criteria provided by a special advisory committee of the American Association of Law Libraries. LegalTrac also contains law-related articles from business and general interest titles.
- Index to Legal Periodicals & Books FullIndex to Legal Periodicals and Books Full Text™ is a resource for attorneys, educators, business people, law librarians, students, paralegals and others involved with the law, providing complete coverage of the most important English language legal information, with international coverage of scholarly articles, symposia, jurisdictional surveys, court decisions, legislation, books, book reviews and more. Full text is available for over 400 periodicals, many of them peer-reviewed, as far back as 1994.
- Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective : 1908-1981This retrospective database indexes over 750 legal periodicals published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Annual surveys of the laws of a jurisdiction, annual surveys of the federal courts, yearbooks, annual institutes, and annual reviews of the work in a given field or on a given topic are also be covered.
- Westlaw (Thomson Reuters)Westlaw (previously known as Westlaw International and Westlaw Next), contains an extensive collection of U.S. state and federal materials, and selected international content from other jurisdictions including Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom, and more.
- Lexis Advance US Research (International)Lexis is an online legal research tool which offers US federal public laws and the US Code Service, as well as US state codes, federal and state registers and state constitutions; over 900 full-text US legal journals and law reviews; and the Shepard's Citator service. The database also contains material from over 150 countries.
Recent Books on US Law
Advancing the Ball by Call Number: UniM Law KN 186.6 Q43 G1 DURUPublication Date: Oxford University Press, 2011
Disaster Law and Policy, Third Edition by Call Number: UniM Law KN 181.6 G1 FARBPublication Date: Wolters Kluwer, 2015
