Subject Guide: Law

Books

Black's Law Dictionary (REF KF156 .B53 1999) is the most extensive legal dictionary available with over 30,000 entries.
Corpus Juris Secundum (REF KF154 .C56) this encyclopedia comprises a contemporary statement of American Law as derived from reported cases and legislation using an alphabetical arrangement of legal subjects.
Dictionary of Legal Terms: A Simplified Guide to the Language of Law (REF KF156 .G53 1998) is organized in traditional dictionary format, this volume provides a ready, accessible and useful source of understanding of the language of law and law-related processes and concepts.
The Oxford companion to American law ( [REF] KF154 .O96 2002) A one-volume encyclopedia of American law with entries about cases and topics, and lengthy bibiliographies.
Historic U.S. Court Cases, 1690-1990: An Encyclopedia (REF KF385.A4 J64 1992) contains 201 signed essays by political scientists, historians, and legal scholars that highlight major legal issues in five thematic areas: crime and criminal law; governmental organization, power, and procedure; economics and economic regulation; race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability; and civil liberties.
Legal Information: How To Find It, How To Use It (REF KF240 .O365 1999) explains why legal information exists in certain formats, and describes how to get the most out of the major legal reference tools. It also suggests the best sources for different kinds of information and explains how these resources compare to other available materials.
United States Code Annotated (REF KF62.5 .W65) is a compilation of federal statutes followed by annotations or summaries of court decisions interpreting and applying the code section.
West's Analysis of American Law (REF KF240 .W454 2005) is a useful tool for case law research, these volumes outline West's Key Number Analysis of American Law, a helpful source when using any of the West's Digests. They may also be used to identify appropriate keyword terms for an online search for relevant law.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law ( REF KF154 W47 2004 v1-13) contains a comprehensive overview of American law, covering historical and current terms, concepts, events, movements, cases, and significant persons.
Massachusetts General Laws Annotated (REF KFM2430 .A42) is a compilation of Massachusetts statutes together with annotations or summaries of state court decisions interpreting and applying the code sections.
Massachusetts Decisions (REF KFM2447 .W47) documents cases decided in the state's highest courts, the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court, as reported in West's Northeastern Reporter 2nd series.
West's Massachusetts Digest, 2d. (REF KFM2457 .W47) is a supplement to the original Massachusetts Digest Annotated, this series for modern cases provides subject access to Massachusetts case law using the West Key Number System.

Search the NOBLE Web Catalog for more print and electronic books owned by McQuade Library. Try these sample subject headings:

Law, United States	Commercial Law
Law United States History and Criticism	Courts
Legal Research United States	Jurisprudence
Law , Massachusetts	Justice
Justice, Administration of	Natural Law
Religion and Law	You can also search by specific topic, i.e., Antitrust Law

Articles

Print and Electronic Periodicals :

The library subscribes to a number of journals in print. These are located in the Periodicals Room on the second floor of the library. There are also many full-text electronic journals available in the library's online databases. For a complete list of the library's periodicals holdings in both formats, go to Journal Finder. Here, you can search by title or subject for all print and full-text electronic periodical holdings.

Selected journals, magazines and newspapers on the Web:

E-Journals and Journals on the Web to the Field of Law compiled by the Staff of the Robert Crown Law Library at Stanford Law School for the Association of American Law Schools and the AALS Committee on Libraries and Technology.

Search these databases to find articles:

LexisNexis Academic contains full-text of legal news, law reviews, and both federal and state legal cases. Includes federal and state codes and regulations, international legal materials, patents and directory listings of lawyers and law schools in the US
Academic Search Premier The world’s largest academic multi-disciplinary database, Academic Search Premier provides full text for more than 4,500 publications, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals.
Expanded Academic ASAP coverage ranges from arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images.
CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology.
CQ Weekly is nonpartisan and contains full-text information on US Congressional activities, dating back to 1983.
Wiley Interscience contains the full text of over 300 leading scientific, technical, medical, and professional journals published by John Wiley & Sons. Some law journals are indexed.

Web Sites

General Guides/Subject Directories

INFOMINE: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
Virtual Reference Shelf selected Web resources compiled by the Library of Congress.

Topics in Law

American Civil Liberties Union
Legal Information Institute's Alphabetical Listing of "Law About" Topics
LawLinks - Legal Information on the Internet
Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute
FindLaw
The Guide To Law Online from the Law Library of Congress.
LexNotes provides categorized links to research sources, bibliographies, pathfinders, articles, reviews, papers, and legal news.
Internet Legal Resource Guide is a categorized index of more than 4000 select web sites in 238 nations, islands, and territories.
Internet Law Library (formerly the U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library) was originally provided to the public courtesy of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives, as part of the Counsel's mission to make the law (particularly the U.S. Code) available to the public.
Federal Web Locator is a service provided by the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy and is intended to be the one stop shopping point for federal government information on the World Wide Web.
Supreme Court Antitrust Debates is a site hosted at Ripon College which includes a collection of excerpts from 72 of the Court's antitrust opinions from 1895 through 1993.

Local Resources

Professional Organizations

American Bar Association
Massachusetts Bar Association
New Hampshire Bar Association
Internet Public Library Associations on the Net

Online Tutorials

PowerPoint Presentations

This presentation is from Special Topics classes taught at McQuade Library.

Legal Research