United States: Debates, Legislation and Legal Resources

Debates, Bills, Laws & Committee Proceedings: Federal

GPO Access From the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), quick links are provided to legislative documentation, and are also divided by the categories of: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet Search for bills, the Congressional Record (debates), public laws, roll calls and committee reports. THOMAS's Frequently Asked Questions explain the legislative record and how to use this site most effectively.

Code of Federal Regulations The Code of Federal Regulations is divided into 50 titles which represent broad areas subject to federal regulation. Each title is divided into chapters which usually bear the name of the issuing agency. Each chapter is further subdivided into parts covering specific regulatory areas. The browse feature outlines the 50 titles and allows searching from 1997 to present.
Code of Federal Regulations: Searchable Index From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, look for Federal Regulations by listed title. A search engine is also provided.
Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy From Yale University's Law School, this is known as the Avalon Project. The site provides access to the online texts of notable historical laws and treaties (American, U.K. and international) from the 1600's, on.
Federal Register Similar to the Canada Gazette, the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.
Legislative Source Book From the Law Librarians= Society of Washington, D.C., Inc., this almanac provides links to legislation, tips on conducting legislative research and a phone and web directory of legislative information sources.
Public and Private Laws From the National Archives and Records Administration, the Public and Private Laws Database is a collection of laws enacted from 1995 to present day. It contains a search engine.
United States Code Search the U.S. Code from 1994, on.
United States Code: Searchable Index From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, this site allows each of the 50 titles of the Code to be searched individually. A Table of Popular Names contains the common names of many laws.
U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates: 1774-1873 From the Law Library of Congress, search for Journals and Debates from the House and Senate and the laws of the first forty?two Congresses from 1789? 1873.

Debates, Bills, Laws & Committee Proceedings: State and City

FindLaw (States) Find state codes and regulations, directories about lawyers and law firms and court information.
Law by Source: State From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, search by state or by topic.
Law.Com: State Sites Find laws and regulations for each state.
Municode: Online Codes Where available, free online municipal codes are organized by state.
Municode: Online Minutes Where available, free online municipal minutes are organized by state.
Statelaw: State Government & Legislative Information From the Washburn School of Law, search by state name or by keyword topic. The state links provide access to state legislative information, statutes and legal information.

Court & Tribunal Decisions: Federal

American Law Sources On-Line Find both federal and state case law, court information and legislation. Search by jurisdiction or use one of the many search engines provided.
Federal Law Materials: Judicial Opinions From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, this site enables users to search for decisions from the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal, the District and Bankruptcy Courts and Courts of Special Jurisdiction.
State Courts: Judicial Opinions From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, this site includes judicial opinions from State courts.
Lexis One: Free Case Law Provides a search engine for free federal and state Case Law.
Supreme Court Collection From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, find past decisions (1990, on), very detailed information about cases from 1998 on and information about pending cases.
Supreme Court Decisions from FindLaw Full-text Supreme Court decisions from 1893, on. These decisions can be viewed by year and US Reports volume number, and they are searchable by citation, case title and fulltext.

CourtTV.com: Verdicts Although these are not official reports, this site gives synopses of TV court cases, past and present.
Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States (General Accounting Office) Search for decisions from 1996, on.

Court & Tribunal Decisions: State

American Law Sources On-Line Find both federal and state case law, court information and legislation. Search by jurisdiction or use one of the many search engines provided.
Law.Com: State Resources Find information about and decisions from state courts.
State Courts From Cornell University's Legal Information Institute, this site provides direct links toeach state's Judicial Opinions.

Constitutional Documents

The Consitution of the United States From the National Archives and Records Administration, this page contains the scanned image and transcript of the original Constitution of the United States, along with explanatory texts and other information.
Core Documents of U.S. Democracy Access the online versions of the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, the Bill of Rights and other key documents.

Treaties & Conventions

Canada-U.S. Relations An index of bilateral treaties currently in force, organized alphabetically by subject. The index links to a searchable database.
Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (Entri) Free online search service (funded in part by NASA and the UN) to help research global environmental issues and the treaties that deal with them.
The Multilaterals Project From Tufts University Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, the Multilaterals Project is an ongoing project designed to make available the texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments.
Congressional Documents From the Government Printing Office (GPO), search a Treaty as it is submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification fromm the 104th Congress (1995) on.
Treaties From the Washburn University School of Law Library, this page provides links to comprehensive treaty sites, along with information about researching treaties.
Treaties in Force From the U.S. Department of State, this is a comprehensive list of all American treaties and international agreements, in force as of January 1, 1999.
United Nations Treaty Database Using Basic Search or Advanced, search through a sample of UN treaties. N.B. This collection is INCOMPLETE.

Legal Information

Legislative Source Book From the Law Librarians Society of Washington, D.C., Inc., this almanac provides links to legislation, tips on conducting legislative research and a phone and web directory of legislative information sources.
WWW Virtual Library - Law From the Indiana Univesity School of Law, search by keyword, topical index or by the type of institution, such AUS Government or Law Firm, which produces the information.

Help Guides

Enactment of a Law By Robert B. Dove, Parliamentarian, United States Senate.
How Our Laws Are Made Revised and updated by Charles W. Johnson, Parliamentarian, United States House of Representatives.
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation By Peter W. Martin, Cornell Law School.
Researching U.S. Treaties and Agreements By Marci Hoffman, the International & Foreign Law Librarian at the E.B. Williams Law Library, Georgetown University Law Center.

July 2001