FREE/LOW­COST LEGAL RESOURCES GUIDE Karen E. Kalnins Reference Librarian kkalnins@okcu.edu Last Updated 8/2009 Introduction This guide focuses on free or low­cost sources for legal research. It is organized by material type and includes both print and electronic resources. Constitutions The U.S. Constitution is available at: ­LII (Legal Information Institute) http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html ­U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/house/Educate.shtml ­U.S. Archives http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html ­GPOAccess http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/index.html ­Library of Congress http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/help/constRedir.html Print sources are: ­ The U.S. Constitution A to Z / Robert L. Maddex is available at the OCU Law Library at KF4548 .M33 2002. ­The U.S. Constitution is also available in the U.S. Code Annotated at KF62.5 .W45 and the U.S. Code Service at KF62.5 .L38. The Oklahoma Constitution is available at: ­OSCN http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/index.asp?ftdb=STOKCN&level=1 ­Oklahoma Legislature http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/ok_constitution.html ­Oklahoma House of Representatives http://www.okhouse.gov/Legislation/Leg_Statutes.aspx U.S. Code The U.S. Code is available at: ­LII (Legal Information Institute) http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ ­GPOAccess http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/ ­Office of the Law Revision Counsel http://uscode.house.gov/ ­Findlaw http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/ Print sources are: ­U.S. Code Annotated at KF62.5 .W45 ­U.S. Code Service at KF62.5 .L38 ­U.S. Code at KF62 1958 .A2 Information about pending bills in the U.S. Congress is located at: ­Thomas from the Library of Congress http://thomas.loc.gov/ ­GPOAccess http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html
1 ­U.S. Senate http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/g_three_sections_with_teasers/legislative_h ome.htm ­U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/ Oklahoma Statutes Oklahoma Statutes are located in various locations for free or low­cost. ­OSCN(Oklahoma State Courts Network) http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/index.asp?ftdb=STOKST&level=1 ­Oklahoma Legislature http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/osstatuestitle.html ­Findlaw http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/ok/laws.html Print sources are: ­Oklahoma Statutes Annotated at KFO1230 .O52 ­Oklahoma Statutes at LL SOUTH Information about pending bills or measures in the Oklahoma Legislature is available at: ­Oklahoma State Legislature http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/WebBillStatus/main.html Federal Case Law You can find federal case law in various places for free or low­cost. Some of them are below. U.S. Supreme Court ­U.S. Supreme Court http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html ­Oyez http://www.oyez.org/ ­LexisOne http://law.lexisnexis.com/webcenters/lexisone/ ­LII (Legal Information Institute) http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html ­Findlaw http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html Other Federal Courts (Federal Circuit Courts, Federal District Courts, and Federal Bankruptcy Courts) ­LII (Legal Information Institute) http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/opinions.html ­Findlaw http://www.findlaw.com/10fedgov/judicial/index.html ­Administrative Office of the Courts http://www.uscourts.gov/ ­Federal Court Locator from Villanova University http://www.law.vill.edu/library/researchandstudyguides/federalcourtlocator.asp ­Pacer Service Center http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov/ State Case Law Oklahoma case law is searchable and available free of charge at: ­OSCN (Oklahoma State Courts Network) http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/index.asp?ftdb=STOKCS&level=1 ­OKNewsBar (from the Oklahoma Bar Association) http://www.okbar.org/php/courtOpinions.php ­Oklahoma Bar members can also access Fastcase from the Oklahoma Bar Association Web site http://www.okbar.org/
2 ­National Center for State Courts has information and publications available at http://www.ncsconline.org/ Federal Regulations Federal regulations are available at: ­GPOAccess http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html ­e­CFR http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text­idx?c=ecfr&tpl=%2Findex.tpl The Federal Register is available at: ­GPOAccess http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/ ­The National Archives http://www.archives.gov/federal­register/ ­The Office of the Federal Register http://www.federalregister.gov/ State Regulations State regulations are available at: ­Oklahoma Secretary of State http://www.oar.state.ok.us/oar/codedoc02.nsf/frmMain?OpenFrameSet&Frame=Main&S rc=_75tnm2shfcdnm8pb4dthj0chedppmcbq8dtmmak31ctijujrgcln50ob7ckj42tbkdt374ob dcli00_ State Forms and Court Rules Oklahoma forms are available at: ­OSCN (Oklahoma State Courts Network) http://www.oscn.net/static/forms/start.asp ­Vernon’s Oklahoma Forms is available in print at the OCU Law Library at KFO1268 .V461 and electronically on the workstation in the OCU Law Library reference wing Oklahoma court rules are available at: ­OSCN (Oklahoma State Courts Network) http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/index.asp?ftdb=STOKRU&level=1 Texas forms are available at: ­Texas Courts Online http://www.courts.state.tx.us/pubs/pubs­home.asp Foreign and International Law Comparative law guide from LLRX http://www.llrx.com/category/1050 Selected translations of primary legal materials http://www.utexas.edu/law/academics/centers/transnational/work_new/ University of Houston’s foreign primary law on the web http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/fi/foreignlaw.html Law Libraries in Oklahoma University of Oklahoma Law Library http://jay.law.ou.edu/library/ University of Tulsa Law Library http://www.utulsa.edu/academics/colleges/college­of­law/Library/MLIC.aspx Jan Eric Cartwright Library http://www.odl.state.ok.us/lawinfo/index.htm Oklahoma City University Law Library http://www.okcu.edu/law/lawlib/
3 Oklahoma County Law Library http://www.oklahomacounty.org/departments/LawLibrary/ Tenth Circuit Federal Court Libraries http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/library/index.php Public Library of Law http://www.plol.org/Pages/Search.aspx PublicLegal http://www.ilrg.com/
4