This guide is designed to help you navigate Library-licensed and open access research sources beyond what you might easily find in UC Library Search.
If you are located on-campus, make sure that you are connected to the UCSD-Protected wifi.
If you are located off-campus, start by setting up VPN AnyConnect on your device.
The UC San Diego Health and Health Science VPN also provides off campus access to resources the Library provides. Instructions and assistance for UC San Diego Health and Health Science VPN users can be found in the Pulse intranet.
Just learning about a topic? Start with secondary sources like books or law review articles. Law review articles are the scholarly journal of the legal world and often contain citations to relevant cases and legislation on the topic at hand. Reading law review articles on your research topic can save you lots time.
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic), WestlawNext, and HeinOnline contain the full text of law review articles and other research tools including legal encyclopedias and other reference books. These databases also include the full text of federal and state case law (published court opinions), regulations, and statutes.
For lower-level court transcripts, you will generally need to contact the original court for availability and ordering instructions. (Expect to pay a fee.)
►Search tip: See newspapers/media coverage for additional information on cases that never made it to the appellate courts or were otherwise never published.
Full text of law reviews/legal periodicals plus primary sources such as the Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Register; Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS); Treaties and Agreements Library; United States Code; U.S. Attorney General Opinions; U.S. Congressional Documents; U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals; U.S. Federal Legislative History Library; U.S. Statutes at Large; State Session Laws Library; State Statutes: A Historical Archive; Acts of the Parliament of Canada (Annual Statutes); World Constitutions Illustrated; World Treaty Library. Also includes special topics databases.
Canadian Content
Acts of the Parliament of Canada (Annual Statutes)
Provincial Statutes of Canada
Case Law
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases
U.S. Supreme Court Library
International Resources
Acts of the Parliament of Canada (Annual Statutes)
Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS)
History of International Law
Law Library of Congress Reports
Open Society Justice Initiative
Provincial Statutes of Canada
U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library
World Constitutions Illustrated: Contemporary & Historical Documents and Resources
World Treaty Library
International Treaties and Agreements
U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library
World Treaty Library
Journals and Periodicals
Bar Journals
Law Journal Library
NOMOS: American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases
Special Collections
Air and Space Law
American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Brennan Center for Justice Publications at NYU School of Law
Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (BLASE)
COVID-19: Pandemics Past and Present
Cataloging Legal Literature
Civil Rights and Social Justice
Criminal Justice & Criminology
Democracy in America
Gun Regulation and Legislation in America
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law
John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection
LGBTQ+ Rights
Labor and Employment: The American Worker
Law Academy Project
Legal Classics
Military Legal Resources (U.S. Army JAG School)
Military and Government
NOMOS: American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy
Open Society Justice Initiative
Pentagon Papers
Religion and the Law
Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
Voting Rights & Election Law
Water Rights & Resources
Women and the Law (Peggy)
U.S. Federal Content
Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS)
Bremer-Kovacs Collection: Historic Documents Related to the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946
COVID-19: Pandemics Past and Present
Civil Rights and Social Justice
Code of Federal Regulations
Executive Privilege
Federal Register Library
GAO Reports and Comptroller General Decisions
History of Supreme Court Nominations
Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S.
Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law
John F. Kennedy Assassination Collection
Labor and Employment: The American Worker
Law Library of Congress Reports
Military Legal Resources (U.S. Army JAG School)
Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases
Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies
U.S. Code
U.S. Congressional Documents
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
U.S. Presidential Impeachment Library
U.S. Presidential Library
U.S. Statutes at Large
U.S. Supreme Court Library
Water Rights & Resources
U.S. State Content
Civil Rights and Social Justice
LGBTQ+ Rights
National Survey of State Laws
Prestatehood Legal Materials: A Fifty-State Research Guide
Session Laws Library
State Attorney General Reports and Opinions
State Constitutions Illustrated
State Reports: A Historical Archive
State Statutes: A Historical Archive
Subject Compilations of State Laws
Water Rights & Resources
Includes a broad range of official and ephemeral information resources issued by federal agencies, individual officials and candidates, and other organizations from all branches of the U.S. Federal Government, and links that content to publicly accessible government documentation. Includes social media, official media releases, legislation, regulations, and a variety of government documents from Congress and the Executive branches. Textual data can be visualized in word clouds, tree maps, bubble graphs, and terms view graphs. Users who sign up for an account and agree to additional terms of service can download a small number of full documents; researchers and students with non-commercial, academic projects can apply with VoxGov for additional bulk data download credentials.
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