Government Information: Judicial--Federal and State

State Law

State laws generally cover areas such matters as landlord and tenant and real estate, marriage and family, wills, inheritance, and probate, personal injury and medical malpractice, criminal law, workers compensation and selected other labor topics.

State laws are codified (arranged by subject) in the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL). Laws can be searched by citation (chapter and/or section number), keyword, and in some instances by popular name (i.e.,the popular state law on sale of used cars known as the Lemon Law).

Another arrangement of state laws is roughly chronological, or by legislative session. These are referred to as "session laws". Session laws are also known as the Massachusetts Acts and Resolves. (Earlier volumes (pre-1900) have interesting supplemental material, including governor’s addresses, list of those who had a change of name and lists of state governmental officials). Volumes dating back to 1692 and are available here:

Massachusetts Acts and Resolves (session laws from 1692 to 2009); Best for searching for an act. Each act is in its own file for faster searching and retrieval. 

Session laws (aka Massachusetts Acts and Resolves, 1997 to present) from the Massachusetts General Court. 

Internet Archive (session laws from 1692 to 1959): Best for searching for a resolve or looking at supplementary material.

Federal Law

Federal law is passed by the United States Congress or is created by federal case law. Federal law applies in all fifty states and covers areas such as civil rights and discrimination, veterans, social security and other benefits, some criminal law, bankruptcy and immigration. 

Just as Massachusetts state law is codified in the General Laws, federal law is codified in the United States Code. The USC is organized into fifty titles (broad topics). The USC is available online and is updated almost in real time. The USC is also issued in print volumes but is not current as changes and new laws are not added until annual supplements are published. 

The chronological arrangement of federal laws start in 1789 and have been continued thus far through 2007 in the United States Statutes at Large, Laws passed 1995 and after are also available in the Public and Private Laws section of the govinfo.gov website.  (Private laws affect an individual, family, or small group, and are enacted to assist citizens that have been injured by government programs or who are appealing an executive agency ruling such as deportation).

The Law Library of Congress has a great guide to federal law, with links to the US Code, Statutes at Large, and Public Laws, as well as tools to help you search all three databases.

Court and Case Law

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information online from federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts, and the PACER Case Locator. PACER is provided by the Federal Judiciary in keeping with its commitment to providing public access to court information via a centralized service. You must register to use it. Registration and searching are free; however, if you want to download documents, you will be charged.

RECAP is a free extension for Chrome or Firefox for PACER users. RECAP will tell you whether a free version of a document you want is already freely available at the RECAP Archive.  As you browse PACER, RECAP will upload docket files and PACER-downloaded PDFs to the Internet Archive for others to download. This happens transparently and adds nothing to your PACER fees. You will see a small notification box after each upload, which you can turn off if you wish. By simply installing RECAP, you are contributing to this growing public domain legal library.

According to Nolo's Plain English Law Dictionary, case law is law based on judicial opinions (including interpretation of statutes), as opposed to law based on statutes, regulations, or other sources. 

Google Scholar includes opinions from all states, federal, and US Supreme Court decisions, as well as some links to full text relevant materials such as law review articles. Coverage includes all US Supreme Court cases, higher level state cases starting in 1950, and federal and district court cases since 1923. Cases cited in decisions are hyperlinked. 

CourtListener (from the Free Law Project) is another database of state and federal court decisions, searchable by keyword or citation. It also includes downloadable audio of oral arguments for some cases.

• Massachusetts cases (not including federal cases decided in the first federal district of Massachusetts)
  • The Trial Court Law Libraries site provides all Supreme Judicial Court and Massachusetts Appeals Court cases, recent district and land court cases, as well as docket information and transcripts of SJC oral arguments
  • Massachusetts Court System information 
• Cases of the federal courts and US Supreme Court
  • Legal Information Institute provides full text of US Supreme Court decisions, including a very useful list of opinions by topic. Also available is a preview of upcoming Supreme Court cases
  • Oyez provides the full text of all U.S. Supreme Court decisions, 1792 to the present. 
  • United States Courts, including US Supreme Court and federal courts
  • United States Supreme Court

Regulations

The creation of laws usually involves a legislative body (i.e., both houses of the U.S. Congress, or a state legislature). Regulations are written by executive agencies at the federal or state level, to help carry out the intent of a law.

 For example, the Environmental Protection Agency was charged with writing regulations to spell out in detail what pollutant levels were acceptable under the Clean Air Act when it was passed in the 1970s. Regulations also usually require a public hearing process before the final regulations are put into effect. In many cases, though, public participation in the development of regulations is minimal. 

Regulations.gov  is intended to make the regulatory process more straightforward and transparent to citizens, and to encourage increased public participation in the regulatory process. Final regulations can be searched in the Code of Federal Regulations (1994 to the present). Proposed and final regulations from 1994 to the present are also searchable in the Federal Register.

On the state level, Massachusetts publishes its current regulations in the Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR). Proposed regulations, new regulations, and changes to standing regulations are published in the Massachusetts Register. BPL also subscribes to print copies of the Code of Massachsetts Regulations and the Massachusetts Register. 

The National Archives has a good guide to the CFR, as well as a helpful The Federal Register and How to Use It tutorial.

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