Federal Law Sources
on the Internet
I. Comprehensive Sites
- Comprehensive World Wide Web sites have links to many other sites, covering a broad
array of legal topics and/or jurisdictions. Comprehensive sites can be very useful when
trying to determine if the information needed is available somewhere on the Internet.
Below are several well-known and recognized sites which provide a wealth of information on
federal law.
Catalaw
http://www.catalaw.com
Cornell Law Library Home Page
http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/
Emory Law Library Electronic Reference Desk
http://www.law.emory.edu/LAW/refdesk/toc.html
Federal Law at Washburn's Washlaw Web
http://www.washlaw.edu
Federal Web Locator at the Center for Information Law and Policy
http://www.infoctr.edu/fwl/
FedWorld Information Network
http://www.fedworld.gov/
FindLaw
http://www.findlaw.com
FirstGov
http://firstgov.com
Google Uncle Sam
http://www.google.com/unclesam
Hieros Gamos
http://www.hg.org
The 'Lectric Law Library
http://www.lectlaw.com/rotu.html
Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
II. Judicial Sites
- The Internet is not as comprehensive as commercial online legal sources such as LEXIS
and WESTLAW for providing full text of judicial opinions. Neither is the Internet search
capability to research by legal issue in the caselaw as well-developed. However, since
judicial opinions are in the public domain, U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal
opinions are available on the Internet.
Official site of the U.S. Supreme Court
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
Supreme Court Decisions indexed by Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/
U.S. Court of Appeals, First
Circuit decisions
http://www.law.emory.edu/1circuit/
since November 1995
http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/opinions/main.php
since January 2000
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second
Circuit decisions
http://law.touro.edu/2ndcircuit/
since Jaunary 1995 and selected earlier decisions
http://www.law.pace.edu/lawlib/legal/us-legal/
judiciary/second-circuit.html
since September 1995
U.S. Court of Appeals, Third
Circuit decisions
http://vls.law.vill.edu/Locator/3/
since May 1994
http://pacer.ca3.uscourts.gov/
since 1997
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth
Circuit decisions
http://www.law.emory.edu/4circuit/
since January 1995
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth
Circuit decisions
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions.HTM
since 1985
http://www.law.utexas.edu/us5th/us5th.htm
since 1991
U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth
Circuit decisions
http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions/main.php
since 1994
http://www.law.emory.edu/6circuit/
January 1995 - June 1999
U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh
Circuit decisions
http://www.kentlaw.edu/7circuit/
since January 1993
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/scripts/foxweb.exe/ca7/op3
since 1991
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
decisions
http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opinions/opinions.html
since 1995
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
decisions
http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/web/newopinions.nsf/
f606ac175e010d64882566eb00658118?OpenView
since 1995
U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth
Circuit decisions
http:/www.kscourts.org/ca10/ since
October 1997
http://www.law.emory.edu/10circuit/
August 1995-September 1997
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh
Circuit decisions
http://www.law.emory.edu/11circuit/
since November 1994
http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions.htm
since May 1999
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit decisions
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/Fed-Ct/cadc.html
since March 1995
http://www.cade.uscourts.gov/opinions/opinions.asp
since September 1997
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit decisions
http://www.law.emory.edu/fedcircuit
since August 1995
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/Fed-Ct/cafed.html
since August 1995
http://www.fedcir.gov/#opinions
since December 1999
U.S. Federal Judiciary
http://www.uscourts.gov/
Federal Judicial Center
http://www.fjc.gov/
Judicial Statistical Inquiry Form, by Cornell Law Professors T. Eisenberg & K.
Clermont
http://teddy.law.cornell.edu:8090/questata.htm
III. Legislative Sites
- A major strength of the Internet sources on federal legislation is often the
availability of very current legislation. The Internet search capability to research
through the full text of statutes and regulations is still developing. However, the
Internet sources can be an indication of what the law generally is.
GPO Access
http://www.gpoaccess.govlegislative.html
THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet
http://thomas.loc.gov/
House of Representatives
http://www.house.gov/
Senate
http://www.senate.gov/
Federal Constitution and Codes from Legal Information Institute at Cornell
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
Uniform Law Commission
http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/ulc/ulc_frame.htm
IV. Agency Sites
- A home page on the World Wide Web is an important way for federal agencies to
disseminate information about their work. Some sites are more substantive than others in
the useful documents they provide. Many are providing the forms, such as Social Security
and Income Tax forms, that attorneys and the public need to deal with the federal agency.
Federal Administrative Decisions & Other Actions, from University of Virginia Law Library
http://www.law.virginia.edu/admindec
Agency Index, from Washburn University School of Law
http://www.washlaw.edu/doclaw/executive5m.html
V. Commercial Sites
LEXIS
http://www.lexis.com/
Loislaw
http://www.loislaw.com/
http://www.loislawschool.com/
Quicklaw America
http://www.QuicklawAmerica.com
VersusLaw
http://www.versuslaw.com/
WESTLAW
http://westlaw.com/
VI. Criminal Law Sites
- The alphabet soup of federal law enforcement -- FBI, CIA, NCJRS -- have World Wide Web
sites that offer statistical information, public relations sites on major cases such as
the Unabomber and the Oklahoma City bombing, and directory-type data.
Central Intelligence Agency
http://www.cia.gov/
Federal Bureau of Investigation
http://www.fbi.gov/
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
http://www.ncjrs.org/ncjhome.htm
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/
United States Sentencing Commission
http://www.ussc.gov/
VII. More Federal Sites
White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
U.S. Government Manual
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara001.html
Democratic National Committee
http://www.democrats.org/
Republican National Committee
http://www.rnc.org/
VIII. Web Indexes
- Web indexes permit you to surf the Internet to see what sites deal with your particular
topic. There are several good search engines on the Internet, although none is ideal or
definitive. Some recommended indexes are:
Alta Vista
http://altavista.com/
Google
http://www.google.com/
Government Information Locator
Service
http://www.gpoaccess.govgils/
HotBot
http://hotbot.lycos.com/
Lycos
http://www.lycos.com/
Metacrawler
http://www.metacrawler.com/
USGovSearch from Northern Light
http://usgovsearch.northernlight.com/
WebCrawler
http://webcrawler.com/
Yahoo
http://www.yahoo.com/
IX. Useful Print Resources
Government Information on
the Internet , by Greg R. Notess. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press, 1998.
Z 1223 .Z7 N91 1998 Reference
Guide to Finding Legal and Regulatory Information on
the Internet , by Yvonne J. Chandler. New York:
Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1998
KF 242 .A1 C45 1998 Reserve
How to Access the Federal Government on the Internet, 4thed,
by Bruce Maxwell. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1999.
Z 1223 .Z7 W31 Reference
Law Law Law on the
Internet: The Best Legal Web Sites and More, by Erik J. Heels and
Richard P. Klau. Chicago, ABA, 1998.
KF 242 .A1 H45 A43 Reference
Lawyer's Quick Guide to
Netscape Navigator, by G. Burgess Allen, Chicago: ABA, 1997.
TK 5105.875.N47 A43 Reference
Legal Research on the
Internet: A Compendium on Websites to Access United States Federal, State, Local,
and International Laws, by Antje Mays. Buffalo: Hein, 1999.
KF 241 .A1 Reference
Cornell Law Library
Pat Court
Last updated January 22, 2001
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