Research Guides: U.S. Law and Government Information: Overview

Getting Started with Government Documents

Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Federal and state cases, statutes, regulations, and legislative history from 1980s to present.
For all current SMU students, faculty & staff

GovInfo
Bills and statutes, judicial publications, congressional publications, agency publications, and directories from the Federal Government. Browse by category or limit by date to manage your results.

Hein Online This link opens in a new window
Browse the databases to help filter results.

C-span Archive
A video archive of hearings, Congressional sessions, public meetings, press conferences, presidential speeches. Good way to search for very recent events that have not been transcribed and archived yet.

Law review articles, written by law scholars, judges, and legal professionals, are an important resource for analysis of the law. They often cite the leading cases and statutes for the topic and comment on legal issues involved.
Books can be a great way of getting an overall understanding about an area of law.

Westlaw Campus: Secondary Sources
For background and references to related cases and statutes, browse in American Jurisprudence, American Law Review, and Corpus Juris Secundum. For analysis, search in law reviews.
Google Scholar
Look for the case law limiter under the search box for law review articles.
Hein Online: Law Journal Library
Library Search: Law and Legislation
A pre-formulated search for SMU Libraries' books on law and legislation in the United States. Add a new line with your own keyword(s).

Congress in Context
Quick profiles with lists of major legislation, Supreme Court cases, timeline, and historical context for each Congressional session.

CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Start here for brief reports on policy issues and reference resources on all branches of government.
West Study Aids This link opens in a new window
Start here for background info on a particular area of law. Nutshell and Law Stories books can be helpful for those new to researching the law.
Creating a West Academic account allows you to take notes, highlight, save favorites, download titles for offline access, and more. Click Create an Account in the upper right-hand corner and follow the prompts.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
Publication Date: 2012
A-Z entries on laws, institutions, and actors that have governed America throughout its history.

Contact:

mheuer@smu.edu
(214) 768-1856

Subjects: Economics, Government, International & Area Studies, Journalism, Political Science, Public Policy & International Affairs, Writing & Reasoning

Statutory law is written by legislative bodies, e.g., Congress and state legislatures.
Case law is that established by courts, e.g. common law, and interpretation of statutes and constitutions.
Regulations are laws written by agencies, e.g. Environmental Protection Agency.

Federal, state, and local governments create laws for differing and sometimes overlapping arenas.

Use secondary sources to discover what laws might relate to your topic. Laws change over time, so match secondary sources to your desired time frame.