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The Cornell University Legal Information Institute (LII) publishes electronic versions of core materials in numerous areas of the
law both online and packaged for download -- ranging from the U.S. Constitution to the Uniform Commercial Code.
LII is a “research and electronic publishing activity of the Cornell Law School, founded in 1992 by co-directors Thomas R. Bruce
and Peter W. Martin (now Director and Director Emeritus, respectively).”
A central goal of LII is to “make law more accessible not only to U.S. legal professionals but to students, teachers, and the
general public in the U.S. and abroad and to carry out these activities in partnership with but not under the control or
direction of such other key actors as law firms, bar associations, public law making and applying bodies, commercial publishers,
and other academic institutions.” For more information, see LII's Quick Overview page.
Highlights of the collection include:
- Supreme Court Decisions:
Since May of 1990, the Supreme Court has posted its decisions on the Internet. LII provides access to those decisions, and
includes biographical material on all current members of the Supreme Court (including links to the recent opinions
written by each justice). The LII also offers Selected Historic Decisions of the US Supreme Court.
- Lower Federal Courts:
Provides access to select decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals. In addition, LII facilitates searching one or all of the Federal Circuit Courts. See also the statistical database on litigation in Federal Courts (unique to LII).
- U.S. Code:
Provides hyperlinked web pages of the entire U.S. Code. The date of any text appearing on the site appears in italics at the
upper right in every Code section. An update service (available onscreen as you look at each section) integrates the services of
the House servers and of the Library of Congress Thomas service to supply accurate updates to any section which has changed.
- International Treaties:
Includes a large collection of multilateral treaties.
- LII's Eye on the Courts:
Links to newsworthy appellate decisions available online and includes a searchable database of pending cases. In addition, the liibulletin publishes both Supreme Court opinions syllabi and previews of cases pending oral argument.
- Federal, State, and International Law:
Links to executive, legislative and judicial materials from both Federal and State sources. Besides United States source documents, this
site has links to International materials as well.
- Topical Libraries:
Includes the American Legal Ethics Library and the Social Security Library.
- Wex:
A “collaboratively built, freely available legal dictionary and encyclopedia.” See the Articles page
for an overview of the topics about which resources are provided.
- Uniform
Commercial Code Locator: Allows the researcher to determine where the uniform laws have
been enacted and how they have been modified in each jurisdiction. Locators are also available for the Uniform Probate Code,
Uniform Code of Evidence, and uniform laws in the areas of matrimonial, family and health, and business and finance.
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