Law Resources on the Internet

U.S. General Law Resouces

If you do not know where to begin, this section contains links to law resources which will assist in formulating search strategies. Any site is a good starting place for novices. Each site offers full text access to materials.
• Cornell University's Legal Information Institute
  This is an excellent site with easy search capabilities. The arrangement is very easy to understand, and full text of laws is available.
• Emory University Law
  Click on ELECTRONIC REFERENCE DESK, which will take you to Federal State and International Law resources. This site gives LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES.
• Findlaw
  The site is an excellent source. Arrangement is again by FEDERAL, STATE, or International. Also contains a section on Legal News, Directories, Lawyers, etc. This site is recommended as the first place to start legal research.
• GPO Access
  This is a comprehensive site but unfortunately is often quite busy, hence a listing of the alternative sites in this section.
• Center for Legislative Archives
  This is the repository, reference center, and outreach facility for the historically valuable records of the U.S. Congress at the National Archives and Records Administration.
• Library of Congress United States Legislative Branch
  This site is excellent, however, it is a little difficult to understand because Government is divided into Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Most people are familiar with the Federal, State, and International breakdowns.
• University of Michigan Documents Center
  The Documents Center is a central reference and referral point for government information, whether local, state, federal, foreign or international. Its web pages are a reference and instructional tool for government, political science, statistical data, and news.

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U.S. Federal Law Resouces

• C-SPAN
  C-SPAN is a public service created by the American cable television industry: to provide access to the live gavel-to-gavel proceedings of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
• Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), or Code of Federal Regulations
  The Code of Federal Regulations is an annual codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register, by the executif departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

  Caution -- Regulations in the CFR can be obsolete by as much as 11 months because updating is done on a quarterly rotational scheudle. Always consult the List of Sections Affected (LSA) and check a particular section or part for amendment history in the Federal Register.

• Federal Register (FR)
  Official publication for Presidential Documents and Executive Orders. Also includes Notices, Rules, and Proposed Rules from Federal agencies and organization. Updated daily, coverage from 1994 to the present.
• Regulations.Gov
  On this site, you can find, review, and submit comments on Federal documents that are open for comment and published in the Federal Register.
  
• Thomas
  Here you will find Congressional Bills, Public Laws and the Congressional Record.
• United States Code, United States Code, or United States Code
  The general and permanent laws of the United States in effect as of January 1994 to current. The U.S. Code is updated by Public Law. See United States Code Classification Tables which show where recently enacted laws will appear in the Code and which sections have been amended by those laws. The tables only include those provisions of law that have been classified to the Code. For text of the law, see Public Laws below. For hints on searching the Code, and for Updates, check out this url: http://uscode.house.gov/lawrevisioncounsel.shtml.
• U.S. Constitution
  Has annotations from the Congressional Research Service, of the Library of Congress, with links to cited Supreme Court Cases.

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Public Laws

• Public Laws Database
  Collection of laws enacted during the 104th through 109th Congress. They are prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration.
• Public Laws in the 109th Congress
• Public Laws in previous sessions of Congress
• U.S. Code Table of Popular Names
  A list of common names for legislative acts. Where possible, the Legal Information Institute has linked the Popular Names item to its relevant section of the U.S. Code. However, often a given legislative act is codified under many different Titles. In such cases, the LII has left the entry in the Table, for reference purposes, but has not attempted to link the entry. Some are full text.

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State Laws

• State Laws or State Laws
  State Laws are arranged alphabetically by the State title.
• State Legislative History Research Guides and State Legislatures on the Web
  For state law information this website is an excellent "first place to look" resource.
• Illinois State Laws
• Illinois
  Contains links to the constitution, and various committees.
• Illinois Compiled Statutes
• Illinois Compiled Statutes Environmental Safety Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS 5/)

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International Law Resources

• The University of Chicago's D'Angelo Law Library or Research on International Law Issues Using the Internet
  Both sites are from the University of Chicago, the first site is a good place to start searching.

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Law Journals

• Cornell Law Review
  Published six times a year by Cornell Law School, this journal is devoted to study and analysis of contemporary legal issues and problems. Edited by second and third-year law students chosen for membership on the basis of their academic standing or performance in a writing competition. Each issue contains articles written by practicing lawyers, scholars, judges and public officials. In addition, the Review contains reviews of significant books relating to the law,and student-written notes on current legal issues.
• Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies
  A faculty-edited, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal focusing on the intersections of global and domestic legal regimes, markets, politics, technologies, and cultures.
• Harvard Journal of Law & Technology (JOLT)
  Provides excellent insight into the legal implications of emerging technologies. JOLT seeks to provide ground breaking articles from various perspectives and in diverse fields of study.
• Law Newsnetwork
  Is an excellent site to get news and current information on the legal front. The site is free.
• Washburn University School of Law
  This is an alphabetical list of full text journals. Key word searching is also provided. A good site to look for legal literature. From this site, check the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum - full text multi-disciplinary journal of environmental law, policy, economics and science published annually by students at Duke University School of Law.
• Web Journal of Current Legal Issues Ltd ISSN 1360-1326
  Published bi-monthly on the WorldWide Web. The focus is on current legal issues in judicial decisions, law reform, legislation, legal research, policy related socio-legal research, legal information, information technology and practice. A good site to get a Non American viewpoint.
• Yahoo Law Journals
  As the title suggests this site is a listing of all law journals, some full text, some with abstracts and some citations only. Since Argonne does not have access to legal indexes, this is an excellent site to begin research in the law literature.

Environmental Impact/Statements/Assessment

Environmental Law, Standards & Policy

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