Loyola    College of Law Library





THE LEGISLATIVE WEB 
Websites for Statutory and Legislative Materials


General Resources

Comprehensive websites provide access to a variety of legal resources, including legislative information for all levels of government. Some of the most popular sites for statutes, legislation and related materials are: Justia http://law.justia.com, MegaLaw http://www.megalaw.com, and FindLaw http://www.findlaw.com/casecode.  Another useful site for legislative research is The Public Library of Law http://www.plol.org/Pages/Search.aspx, which is a free database of federal and state sources of primary law.

Also, these research guides contain background information and links for your statutory research: The Law Student Guide http://freelaw.classcaster.net, Statutory Research Checklist http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/statute.html, and Nolo.com http://www.nolo.com/legal-research.

Federal Resources

U.S. Constitution: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys.  Provides the text of the 2002 edition and supplements, with analysis and interpretation.  1992 edition and supplements also available.  Government Printing Office website.

--Annotated version prepared by the Congressional Research Service available on Cornell's Legal Information Institute http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution.


U.S. Code: http://uscode.house.gov.  Contains current 2006 edition and supplements, as well older editions. Includes search options and Popular Name Tool.  Beta version of new website is also available. Sponsored by House of Representatives, Office of Law Revision Counsel.


Congressional Record: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys.  Government Printing Office website,  beginning with vol.140 (1994) and updated daily.  Includes browsing and search features.


Cornell's Legal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html.  Provides access to U.S. Constitution, CRS Annotated Constitution, and U.S. Code.  Also contains links to legislative materials, uniform laws and state laws. Useful search and browsing features.


Thomas: http://thomas.loc.gov.  Library of Congress website which contains laws, bills, Congressional Record, treaties, committee reports, historical documents and other legislative information. Includes multiple search functions and links to other sources. Coverage varies.


Guide to Law Online: http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.php. Annotated guide to sources of U.S. laws, congressional documents, historical materials, commentary and other information concerning the legislature. Separate sections cover state laws and foreign and international law. Sponsored by the Law Library of Congress.


House: http://www.house.gov.  House of Representatives home page.


Senate: http://www.senate.gov.  Senate home page.

FDSys, Federal Digital System (formerly GPO Access): http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys.  Website for the Government Printing Office, which publishes and distributes documents for all branches of the federal government. Legislative materials include: U.S. Code, Statutes at Large, Congressional Record, bills, and committee reports. Coverage varies.


USA.gov: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml.  Legislative page on portal for federal government websites.  Provides links to Senate and House sites, related agencies and other resources.


GovTrack: http://www.govtrack.us.  Monitors current legislation and activity in the U.S. Congress by gathering information from government websites.  Also contains historical databases for bills, statutes and voting records.  Includes a variety of features for searching, browsing and tracking Congressional activities.  Maintained  by Civic Impulse, LLC.



State and Local Resources

American Law Sources On-line: http://www.lawsource.com/also.  Search interface for all types of state laws, with separate section for uniform laws and model acts.  Also includes federal, Canadian, Mexican and other North American laws. Sponsored by LawSource.com.


State Statutes and Legislation: http://www.whpgs.org/f.htm.  Links to internet sources for state laws including statutes, constitutions, session laws and regulations.  Maintained by whpgs.org.


State Legislative Histories: http://www.law.indiana.edu/lawlibrary/research/guides/statelegislative/index.shtml.  Contains links to internet sources for state legislatures, legislative resources, and research guides. Maintained by Indiana University School of Law Library, Bloomington.


State and Local Government on the Net: http://www.statelocalgov.net.  Provides links to official websites for state and local governments. Includes links to multi-state, federal and association sites.

Local Ordinances: http://www.municode.com/Library/Library.aspx.  Database of city and county ordinances with excellent search features.  Maintained by Municipal Code Corporation.



Louisiana Resources

Legislature: http://www.legis.state.la.us.  Louisiana Legislature home page. Includes searchable database of current statutes and bills since 1997.


House: http://house.legis.state.la.us.  House of Representatives home page.


Senate: http://senate.legis.state.la.us/default.asp.  Senate home page.


Local Ordinances: http://www.municode.com/Library/ClientListing.aspx?stateID=18.  Contains ordinances and minutes for cities and parishes in Louisiana.  Local ordinances for other states are also available on this site.  Maintained by Municipal Code Corporation.



Prepared by: Etheldra G. Scoggin
Reference Librarian and Associate Professor
Spring 2012