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PRIMARY LAW
Cases
There are growing numbers of sites that post cases on the Internet. This list is not exhaustive. Note that not all collections are comprehensive; read coverage information at each site because this changes over time.
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Cases—Federal |
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U.S. Supreme Court Opinions |
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U.S. Supreme Court |
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
opinions/opinions.html |
The US Supreme Court web site contains copies of bench and slip opinions in PDF format beginning with the 1999 term. See the web site for cautionary information about electronic opinions. |
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Fedlaw |
http://www.thecre.com/fedlaw/legal30.htm |
Links to sites with opinions from 1906 to present; includes Supreme Court rules. |
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Cornell University (Legal Information Institute) |
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/ |
Nearly all decisions from May 1990 to the present; includes Rules and information about the court. |
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FindLaw |
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
supreme.html |
Decisions from 1893 to present; includes rules and information about the court. This site also contains a searchable database of US Supreme Court decisions from 1893 to the present. |
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Ninth Circuit Opinions |
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U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit |
http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/ |
Home page includes opinions from 1995 to present, rules, and information about the court. |
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Fedlaw |
http://www.thecre.com/fedlaw/legal31.htm |
Links to all federal court opinions; includes rules and information about each court. |
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FindLaw |
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/
courts/9th.html |
Opinions from 1990 to present; includes links to rules and other information about the court. |
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Other federal court opinions |
http://www.uscourts.gov/allinks.html |
Federal judiciary home page with links to all circuit courts on the Web. Also contains links to other sites of interest. |
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Cases—California |
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California Supreme Court |
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Slip opinions |
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/ |
Opinions from last 60 days, including list of modifications to previously posted opinions. |
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FindLaw |
http://www.findlaw.com/cacases |
Opinions from Oct. 1996 to present; contains links to other information about the court. |
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American LegalNet |
http://www.americanlegalnet.com |
Subscription service provides opinions from 1934 to present, rules, and links to many sites. |
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Newlaw Libraries |
http://www.netlawlibraries.com |
Subscription service provides opinions from 1934 to present, rules, and links to many sites. |
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California Courts of Appeal |
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Slip opinions |
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/ |
Opinions from last 60 days; includes list of modifications to previously posted opinions. |
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FindLaw |
http://www.findlaw.com/cacases |
Opinions from Oct. 1996 to present; contains links to other information about the court. |
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American LegalNet |
http://www.americanlegalnet.com |
Subscription service provides opinions from 1934 to present, rules, and links to many sites. |
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Newlaw Libraries |
http://www.netlawlibraries.com |
Subscription service provides opinions from 1934 to present, rules, and links to many sites |
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Attorney General Opinions |
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California Attorney General Opinions |
http://caag.state.ca.us/opinions/ |
Full text of Attorney General Opinions from 1997 to present. |
Bills and Legislative Activity
Legislative sites sponsored by the government are still the best source for recent legislative information. In California, The Legislative Counsel maintains one of the best sites around for locating current, accurate information on the text and status of bills. The Library of Congress site is also a good place to start for federal legislative research. Read the information posted at these sites to verify currency, accuracy, and coverage.
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Legislation—Federal |
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Thomas (Library of Congress (LOC)) |
http://thomas.loc.gov/ |
A service of the Library of Congress, Thomas provides federal legislative information. The three main areas covered are legislation, the Congressional Record, and committee information. |
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Legislation—California |
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Legislative Counsel |
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov |
Bill and joint resolution information for the current session; also links to search page and legislative related sites. |
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California Law Revision Commission |
http://www.clrc.ca.gov |
Commission’s tentative and final recommendations. |
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Los Angeles County Law Library |
http://lalaw.lib.ca.us/calleghist.html |
Links to Leginfo site; includes "Guide to California Legislative History" and related sites. |
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UCLA Law Library |
http://www1.law.ucla.edu/~library/ |
Links to Leginfo, Senate, and Assembly home pages; includes "Guides" and related sites. |
Codes
Current versions of United States and California codes are available in abundance. Researchers looking for the codes online should be wary: Some sites contain only portions of the codes, while other sites are not kept up to date. The best sources for codes are listed below. These sites are maintained by governmental agencies, libraries, or their delegates to offer current code databases. Be sure to read information available at the site to verify coverage and currency.
Regulations
Regulations can often be difficult to track in paper-based libraries. Online, they can be a nightmare. The issues of currency and accuracy are the main concerns as the number of partial and out-of-date regulatory sites continues to grow. It is always good practice to check the website of the agency that promulgated the regulations to verify effective dates and applicability. Note that sites containing regulatory materials are often no more current than the print materials sent out by the state and federal governments.
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Regulations—Federal |
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Code of Federal Regulations (National Archives and Records Administration) |
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr |
The Internet version of the CFR is not more current than the printed version. Single or multiple titles can be searched or browsed. The entire CFR can also be searched by keyword, title, or section. |
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Federal Register Publications Systems |
http://www.archives.gov/federal_
register/index.html |
Hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration, this site provides access to electronic versions of the daily Federal Register as well as other official government documents. |
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Regulations—California |
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California Code of Regulations (CCR) |
http://ccr.oal.ca.gov/
or
http://www.calregs.com |
This site contains the text of regulations (except CCR Title 24) that have been formally adopted by state agencies, reviewed and approved by the Office of Administrative Law, and filed with the Secretary of State. The site is maintained and updated weekly by OAL through a contract with West Group. |
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California Regulatory Notice Register |
http://www.oal.ca.gov/notice.htm |
The full-text of the California Regulatory Notice Register is online. |
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California Agency reports (Legislative Counsel) |
http://www.agencyreports.ca.gov/ |
This site contains a searchable database of California agency reports that can be searched by agency or report subject. |
NOTE: The text of Title 24 (California Building Standards) contains copyrighted materials under the ownership of several model code publishers and must be reviewed at depository libraries or purchased in paper format from the copyright holders or selected vendors. The Web page for the California Building Standards Commission at http://www.dgs.ca.gov lists the locations where the California Building Standards Code can be purchased.
Rules
Sites containing court rules are growing in number. Most courts have links from their home pages to complete copies of current rules.
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Rules—Federal |
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Ninth Circuit |
http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov |
Home page with links to Ninth Circuit rules. |
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U.S. District Court, Northern District of California |
http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/ |
Full text of district court local rules (e.g., civil, criminal, habeas corpus, bankruptcy) available by clicking on side menu link. |
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United States Supreme Court (Cornell) |
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/overview.html |
The Cornell site maintains a current HTML version of the Supreme Court rules. |
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Federal rules and federal local rules |
http://www.llrx.com |
Rule links for federal and state rules compiled and maintained by Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. |
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Rules—California |
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California Rules of Court |
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/rules/ |
The full text of current rules are available for downloading and viewing in PDF or HTML format. The rules are broken down into files by Title. Files containing recent amendments to rules (marked with strikethroughs, underlines, and indents) are available in PDF and HTML versions via links from this page. |
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Local rules |
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/
rules/localrules.htm |
Some superior courts have their local rules available on their websites. Check the list of superior courts to learn whether the local rules for the courts that you use are available. |
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State rules and state local rules |
http://www.llrx.com |
Rule links for federal and state rules compiled and maintained by Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. |
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