Online Books
BHCC Library Resources for American Law
The following is support material related to a library instruction session conducted by a library instructor and a BHCC Criminal Justice Department course instructor.
Finding what you need
Consider what you need before you begin your search for law related information.
Ask yourself, how you plan to conduct your research, sort through the information you find, select the most appropriate items, and evaluate the credibility of the materials you plan to use. In order to answer these questions, you need to know a little about how legal information is organized, and the two major kinds of legal information resources that exist.
The two major kinds of legal information resources:Primary Sources of Legal Information & Secondary Sources of Legal Information
I. Primary Sources of Legal Information -- Also known as "The Law."
Examples of Primary Sources of Legal Information: Statutes, Court opinions, Constitutions, town ordinances, city codes, agency regulations, executive orders, and other documents issued by a body with legal authority.
II. Secondary Sources of Legal Information -- Also known as "Commentary on the Law."
Examples of Secondary Sources of Legal Information: Legal encyclopedias, legal treatises (books by legal scholars analyzing areas of the law), Legal textbooks, articles in legal newspapers, articles in law journals, articles from the Boston Globe on a legal topic, case digests (sources that let you find legal cases), as well as many others.
Why does knowing about primary and secondary sources of legal information matter?
It matters because the law is complex. In many cases, particularly when you known nothing about the area of the law you wish to study, it is better to start by reading a secondary source of legal information.
If you choose to consult a secondary source of legal information, then the question becomes, which secondary source do you choose? There are many secondary sources of information out there, and you do not have the time to check every possible secondary source, so look at your specific information needs and start with sources that are already in your possession. Here is a good source to check:
Your course textbook - The course textbook will help you answer three of the questions in your preliminary project. You will want to use the textbook's table of contents, index, and glossary. Therefore, you should identify topics and terms to search for in the textbook by looking at the questions you need to answer.
Working with Case Names and Citations
Review the web page how to read a legal citation . After reviewing the web page, consider the US Supreme Court case Cooper v. Oklahoma, which is in volume 517 of the United States Reports on page 348, and was decided in the year 1996. What is the defendant's name in this case? What is the plaintiff's name in this case? Write down the correct citation to this case.
Finding the text of a case from its case name and citation, using a book and a computer
I. Finding the Text of Cases in Books.
Printed books that contain legal cases are called reporters. When you know how to read a case's citation, then you should know which reporter, volume, and page number to go to find the text of a case. Here are two important reporters we have in our reference collection, which is arranged by call number:· Supreme Court Reporter - The call number for this set is REF KF101. This set contains cases decided by the United States Supreme Court, the highest federal court in the country.
· Massachusetts Decisions - The call number for this set is REF KFM2447. This set contains cases decided by the Massachusetts State Supreme Court and Massachusetts appellate courts.
II. Finding the Text of Cases on a Computer.
LexisNexis is a comprehensive computer database you can use to find many legal cases. If you have a citation to a particular case, then click on LexisNexis from the list of electronic databases on the BHCC library website, click on the link Legal Research , click on the link Get a Case , and then choose the part of the citation you wish to type in - either the names of the parties or the volume, reporter name, and page number. Next, click Search , and the text of the case should appear. Some free websites, such as Findlaw at www.findlaw.com, also provide the full text of legal cases. Links to these resources appear below
Finding the text of cases that involve specific facts or principles of law, using books and computers.
I. Finding Cases That Involve Specific Facts or Principles of Law Using Books
The West Key Number system classifies cases by the facts or principles of law they discuss. If you look at the start of a case in a reporter printed by West Group, you will see the West Key Number system subjects associated with the case. To find cases on the same subject, you just look up the same subject and Key Number in a West digest. Massachusetts Digest, with call number KFM2457 in our reference collection, arranges Massachusetts cases by subject.II. Finding Cases That Involve Specific Facts or Principles of Law Using Computers
In LexisNexis you can search the full text of cases for particular words by doing a "keyword" search. You access this search screen by clicking on the link Area of Law by Topic once you are in LexisNexis. You then type the words you wish to search in the space next to "keyword:" and then click Search. The link to LexisNexis appears below.
Important Electronic Sources of Legal Information
Look at a Reference Shelf
The BHCC Library Electronic Resources: http://www.noblenet.org/bhcc/databases.htm
Specialized database: Lexis-Nexis. Click on the Legal Research tab to begin to search for cases or other law-related information.
Lexis/Nexis is available from on or off campus.Go to the following web address:
If you are on-campus, use this one:
- http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe
And if you are off-campus, use this one:
- http://proxy16.noblenet.org/login?url=http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe
On the Web, a good place to start your research is The Findlaw website available at: http://www.findlaw.com
Other law-related websites of interest You can find the annotated text of the Constitution (the text with analysis of and references to pertinent Supreme Court decisions) at the Government Printing Office website:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/index.html
Links maintained by our Library consortium
http://www.noblenet.org/law.html
Tips for legal researching
http://www.virtualchase.com/legalresearcher/intro.html
Legal Research Using the Internet from the University of Chicago
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/mpoctalk.html
The constituional law page at UC is also very good:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/conlaw.html
Florida State University connections to site useful for Criminal Justice students
http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/p/cjl-main.php
Statewide Legal Reference Service - links to public law libraries in Massachusetts and their resources
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/
This page from the Massachusetts state legislature site allows you to search the text of the Massachusetts General laws
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/laws/mgl/mgllink.htm
The Oyez Project from Northwestern University provides abstracts and other materials for leading cases in constitutional law decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, along with a wealth of other material about the highest court in the land.
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage
Legal Journals & Law Reviews
The Lawyers Weekly is at
http://www.lawyersweeklyusa.com/
Other related library resources
Newspaper database: Lexis-Nexis http://www.lexis-nexis.com/universe. Click on the News link to search for newspaper articles from major newspapers in the U.S. and around the world.
Finding Newspapers - paper indexes are located on the Index Table near the Reference section of the library.
Ethnic NewsWatch covers over 200 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press. You access it by going to one of the addresses below:
From on campus go to:From off campus go to: http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTM4M2UmU01EPTQmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=5167
And Facts on File is a news digest service among other things. To access the database from on campus go to:
from off campus, go to: http://proxy16.noblenet.org/login?url=http://www.2facts.com/
Finding Magazines – paper indexes like the Guide to Periodical Literature and the Wilson Social Science Index are on the Index table near the Reference section of the library.
For an electronic magazine index with fulltext articles, use the URL for EBSCO (works from wherever you are with your 14 digit barcode #) is:
http://search.epnet.com/cpidlogin.asp?custid=noble&ip=yes&profile=web
from off campus, go to: http://proxy16.noblenet.org/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?custid=bhc&ip=yes&profile=web
The URL for Info Trac for more fulltext resources is:
http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/mlin_b_bunkhcc (from on-campus)
and,
http://proxy16.noblenet.org/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/mlin_b_bunkhcc (from off campus)
Evaluating what you find…
Remember...too much information can be as problematic as too little information. Computers, paper indexes, the Internet, and the World Wide Web are tools for accessing and managing information. Efficient and effective use of these tools is the responsibility of the user (that's you).
Take a few minutes to look at a web page posted by Sonoma State University Library that will highten your awareness of what to watch out for when using online resources. Go to…
http://library.sonoma.edu/research/subject/evaluate.html
Citing what you find:
The online version of Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (2006 ed.) by Peter W. Martin is found at http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
If you feel in need of some practice dealing with these citation formats, go to the library's web-based worksheet entitled The Elements of a Legal Citation.
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Last reviewed October 25, 2004 Last updated February 05, 2007