Legal Research on the (Free) Internet

Presented by:

Kate Fitz

Public Services Librarian

Sacramento County Public Law Library

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Sources of law

Primary Sources contain the law Actual statements of the law Codes, Cases, Regulations Generally available online

Secondary Sources explain the law Material “about” the law, often starting point

for research Limited availability online

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Search Techniques on the Internet

Boolean, wildcards, “exact phrase,” proximity

Always take a peek at the “help” or “search tips”

Broken links? Site map, URL trimming, Google’s “site:” search

Alternative terms, terms to focus

Introduction

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Primary Sources

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Case Law

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http://findlaw.com/cacases/

•1934 to the present

•Free, but registration required

California cases

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http://findlaw.com/cacases/

Cases citing this case

Pin cite

No indicationof total hits

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http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/

AdvancedSearch

More Search Terms

California Courts –Powered by LexisNexis

•Cases since 1850•Registration not required•Many search options

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Print or email

Focus w/inresults

Validationsymbols

California Courtshttp://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/

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Other State Case Law

FindLaw a good source, but varies in coverage

Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII): http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html

Check with your local public law library! http://aallnet.org/sis/sccll/membership/libraries.htm

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Federal Case Law

All Supreme Court, F2d and F3d

West Rptr citations w/ pagination

Advanced search available

http://www.precydent.com/

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Federal Case Law – other options

Altlaw: http://altlaw.org/. All Supreme Court cases, 40+years of federal appellate cases, most with West Reporter citations, but not pagination. Advanced search functions available.

Justia: http://law.justia.com/ Federal and state cases, including some access to current case dockets. Citations, but not pagination. Google search (no built-in advanced search)

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Statutes

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California statuteshttp://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.htm

Click here For CA code

•Current code only•Not annotated •Keyword searchable

NO INDEX!!

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fence

Searching the California Codes

Can my neighbor build a 12-foot high fence next to my property just to annoy me?

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.htm

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The plain statement of the law

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.htm

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leave keyword blank

Browsing Table of Contents

Choose a code to view, then…

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.htm

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Browsing Table of Contents

No wayto plugin cites!

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.htm

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Other State Statutes

FindLaw a good source, but varies in coverage

Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII): http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html

Check with your local public law library! http://aallnet.org/sis/sccll/membership/libraries.htm

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United States Code U.S. House of Representatives

http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml Plug in citations or search text. Many search options including cross-references to a citation. Classification Tables (recently enacted changes). Prior versions of Code.

Cornell Legal Information Institutehttp://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ Plug in citations or search text. Table of Popular Names; advanced search options.

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Regulations

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California Code of Regulations

http://www.calregs.com/

Regulations of all California agencies

Only the current edition is available

Title 24 (CA Building Standards Code) is NOT available on the Internet

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Click forTable ofContents

http://www.calregs.com/

California Code of Regulations

Plug in citation

Search for words

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http://www.calregs.com/

California Code of Regulations

What insects can be imported without a permit?

import AND insects AND permit

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http://www.calregs.com/

California Code of Regulations

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Other State Regulations

Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII): http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html

Check with your local public law library! http://aallnet.org/sis/sccll/membership/libraries.htm

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e-CFR: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov Federal Register:

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/

Federal regulationshttp://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html

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Municipal law

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California City & County Codeshttp://igs.berkeley.edu/library/calcodes.html

Also see:California City Websites & City Codeshttp://law.justia.com/california/cities/

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Other Municipal & County Codes

http://tinyurl.com/3rppn

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Sacramento City Code Online

http://www.qcode.us/codes/sacramento/

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Public Records Searching

Types of records available varies from County to County and from State to State

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Cal. Secretary of State

http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/list.html

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www.freeprf.com

Links to many free public records databases around the U.S.

Can limit by state Also many links to

pay searches

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Court Recordshttp://courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/find.htm

California Many California courts offer online case index More and more offer online documents Find California courts on the Judicial Council site

http://courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/find.htm

Other States Available records vary Find court websites at Cornell Legal Information

Institute (LII): http://www.law.cornell.edu/

Federal dockets and documents: see PACER. Some free at Justia.com and public.resource.org

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Secondary Sources

Secondary sources such as: CEB practice guides Rutter Group materials Matthew Bender pleading

and practice guides

…are NOT available for free on the Internet

$215.00

$361.25

$4201.00

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Cornell Legal Information Institute: Wexhttp://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex

Articlesarranged

alphabetically

Keyword Search

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FindLaw: “Learn About the Law”http://public.findlaw.com/

Arranged topically or alphabetically

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Nolo.com: Self Help Publisherwww.nolo.com

Commercial site, but many helpful articles available free

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www.courtinfo.ca.gov

California Judicial Council

Self-HelpCenter

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Local court websiteshttp://www.caeb.uscourts.gov/

•Info on specific topics and local practice•Forms, instructions, samples•Links to more resources•Find your jurisdiction: www.law.cornell.edu/soj.html

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Law Reviews

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Washburn Legal Research on the Webwww.washlaw.edu/lawjournal/

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Law Review Home Pages (D’Angelo Law Library)

www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/lawreviews.html

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Google Scholar – article search

http://scholar.google.com/

Links to full text sometimes availalble

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Keeping current – Law Blogs

Written by practitioners or scholars

Regularly updated news, case reports, and commentary on specialized topics

RSS feeds can deliver the news to you

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Finding blawgs - Justiahttp://blawgsearch.justia.com/

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Law Professor Blogshttp://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/

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Thank you for coming!

kate@ceratops.net IM Cat Galileowww.galileolaw.com (coming soon)