Finding a law or case can depend on knowing the jurisdiction of the court. In most cases these jurisdictions fall under three categories: federal, state and local.
Links to these three different courts can be found below.
Knowing which Jurisdiction can help in searching the right databases and navigating to the right webpages. The Library of Congress has an excellent Legal Research Guide that is divided by jurisdictions. Check it out by clicking the link below.
Other useful information to gather before you search:
Legal Research by Legal Research: Take the law into your own hands Do you have legal questions at home, at work, or as part of law-related course work? Legal Research provides everything you need, laying out easy-to-follow research methods that will help you find the right answers. Find out how to: locate and understand statutes, regulations, and cases make sure your research is 100% up to date organize your research results into a memorandum of law for use at school, at work, or in court. Completely updated for the 17th edition, Legal Research shows how to use the Web to find statutes, cases, background information, and answers to specific legal questions. Even more important, you'll be guided to the most reliable and user-friendly sites, so you won't drown in an information flood. Lots of examples and easy-to-understand instructions teach you how to use all the basic legal research tools, including: Internet search engines reliable free legal websites legal encyclopedias, periodicals, and treatises annotated legal codes and statutes published reports of state and federal court cases case digests and Shepard's Citations the best legal blogs
West's Business Law by This text is used at more colleges and universities than any other business law text. With the perfect balance of tradition and innovation, this benchmark text brings to life the functions and inner-workings of business law in the real world. Rich with classic and modern cases, West's Business Law is the ideal text for students entering virtually any field of business. By combining this market leading text with a complete supplements and technology package, this is the one clear choice in business law.
Legal Terminology by This learning guide and reference tool written in a narrative format is a welcome change from the format of legal dictionaries. Over one thousand terms and phrases are arranged by subject within chapters, giving readers the chance to see the context in which they are used. Definitions have been written in layman's terms, and explanations are clarified through a host of examples. Paralegals, legal secretaries, court reporters, law students, and others in the legal field will become more comfortable with their work by relying on this publication to develop a thorough understanding of legal terminology.
The Bluebook by A provocative new approach to discovering your true calling in life and achieving not just a good career, but a great one
Black's Law Dictionary by Building on the strength of previous editions, this edition includes an extensive appendix on legal abbreviations plus 17000 new definitions, explanation of more than 1000 law-related abbreviations and acronyms, and is enhanced with West Key Numbers for research reference.
Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law by "What is involved in estate planning? What can I do legally if I have noisy neighbors? What are the consequences of an expired visa? The Gale Encyclopedia Of Everyday Law fills a much-needed gap between legal texts focusing on the theory and history behind the law and more practical guides dealing with the law and its everyday effect upon its citizens. Containing approximately 200 articles, the Gale Encyclopedia Of Everyday Law includes: brief descriptions of each issue's historical background, covering important statutes and cases; profiles of various U.S. laws and regulations; details of how laws and regulations vary from state to state, and; comprehensive bibliographies, including print and Web resources and lists of relevant organizations. "
West's Encyclopedia of American Law by 