How Do I Find... ?
The guides listed below can help you begin a legal research project by offering quick techniques and a selection of legal resources and tools. Each guide is prepared by a legal specialist from the Law Library of Congress.
Administrative Law Guide
Administrative law, commonly called regulatory law, is created and enforced by an administrative body; e.g., the Department of Labor, the Federal Communications Commission, or the President. This guide provides techniques and recommended resources to help get you started in this area of law.
Federal Legislative History: Initial Steps
Provides a basic outline of resources to consult when first researching a federal legislative history. Materials such as bills, committee hearings, committee reports, congressional debate and other documents (e.g., committee prints or presidential messages) are covered.
Foreign and International Law Guides
To provide a starting point for researching foreign, international, and comparative law, the Law Library of Congress has prepared guides to reference sources, compilations, citations guides, periodicals (indexes and databases), dictionaries, Web resources, free public websites, subscription-based services, subject-specific websites, and country overviews.
Guide to Federal Statutes
Statutes are laws (or acts) enacted by legislatures. Statutes may be found by citation, popular name, or subject. Use this overview to find statutes using various print and Web resources.
Guide to Secondary Legal Resources
Secondary legal sources offer analyses, commentaries or restatements of primary law. Sources such as legal encyclopedias, annotated law reports, legal periodicals, treaties, and restatements are covered.
Researching Judicial Decisions
In the American legal system, judicial decisions are primary sources of law, in addition to the Constitution, statutes, and regulations. Learn how to find federal and state judicial decisions by citation or subject.
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Last Updated: 04/04/2011
