Meta-Index for U.S. Legal Research

• This page illustrates the use of searchable legal indexes on the World Wide Web. Only specifically legal indexes in the U.S. are included. Please note that many of the search tools here have additional search options available and that to derive full benefit from them you should visit the original sites directly.

• This page simply links to search tools at other sites. The search results returned from each site vary in quality depending on the search tool in use.

• Try Google for a generic search.

• If you are aware of searchable legal indexes which have not been included, or have other comments, and especially if you discover that one of the links is broken, please send email to Patrick Wiseman (pwiseman@gsu.edu).

• Please do not make your own local copy of this page, unless you agree to make no changes to the page, and you agree to subscribe to the email alert (by sending email to metaindex@gsulaw.gsu.edu) and to replace the page whenever it is updated. This license is effective with the version of the MetaIndex released on January 30, 1997. (Revision: 970130.x and later) The revised license (requiring subscription for email alert) is effective with the version released on February 8, 1999 (Revision: 19990208.x and later)

• This effort was inspired by CUI's Meta-Index.

• U.S. Supreme Court Opinions from FindLaw

  FindLaw's searchable database of Supreme Court decisions since 1937 (U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: US Reports 300-, 1937-). Browsable by year and US Reports volume number and searchable by citation, case title and full text.

  Browsing

  • U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: by volume, by year

  Citation Search

  U.S.
  Title Search
  Full-Text Search
  [ options ]

• U.S. Supreme Court opinions from Cornell's Legal Information Institute.

  This is the combined search for all current and historic decisions, which will take you to a page with many more options.

• Federal Circuit Opinions (1995-08/2001), from Emory University School of Law. Later Federal Circuit Opinions are available at the Georgetown University Law Center and at the Federal Circuit's own site. Neither of the latter is usefully searchable.

• 1st Circuit Opinions (1995-07/2001), from Emory University School of Law.

• 1st Circuit Opinions, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

• 2nd Circuit Opinions, from Touro Law Center (visit this site at your own risk!).

• 3rd Circuit Opinions, from Villanova University School of Law. The search searches the Villanova Law School website, and so returns more than just opinions of the 3rd Circuit. (Including "3d" as a search term apparently works to exclude irrelevant hits.)

• 4th Circuit Opinions, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The court's website offers a number of search options; this example is of a command-based query (which itself has many more options).

• 4th Circuit Opinions (1995-07/2001), from Emory University School of Law.

• 5th Circuit Opinions, from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. There are other search options available at the court's website; this is an example of a command-based query (which itself has more options).

• 6th Circuit Opinions, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

• 6th Circuit Opinions (1995-06/1999), from Emory University School of Law.

• 7th Circuit Opinions, from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Advanced search options are available.

• 8th Circuit Opinions, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

• 9th Circuit Opinions, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

• 10th Circuit Opinions before October 1, 1997, from Emory University School of Law.
  
  

• 10th Circuit Opinions after October 1, 1997, from Washburn University School of Law.

  Advanced search options are available.

• 11th Circuit Opinions, from Emory University School of Law.

Legislation

• Search for bills and legislative history in the 108th Congress, from THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet
  • Full text search of bills:
    
    Bill number:
    
  • Full text search of the Congressional Record:
    
  Other search options are available.

[ Top ]

Federal Regulation

• The Code of Federal Regulations sponsored by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. Also visit e-CFR, the beta site for an electronic version of CFR, updated daily.

  Other search options are available.

Other Legal Sources

• Findlaw, an index to many legal sources.

  This resource will find links to primary legal sources, government resources, World Wide Web sites, publications, law school course outlines, software, mailing lists, Usenet discussion groups, and related FindLaw pages. The example search is of "Legal Websites." Visit the site directly for many more options.

• Law Reviews from FindLaw.