General
The general sources listed here are tools which help people understand
the law. Black's Law Dictionary, for instance, is a source which
can be used to define legal topics or terms. The Index to Legal Periodicals
is just that -- an index. And as we all know, an index tells us where articles
in journals and magazines can be found. Corpus Juris Secundum is
in essence a legal encyclopedia, which covers legal topics at greater length
that does a dictionary and will sometimes provide a history of how a law
came about.
| ** Black's law dictionary | KF156 .B53 1990 |
| ** Index to legal periodicals | Indexes, K9 .N32 |
| ** Corpus juris secundum | KF260 .C6 |
| * Arizona legal forms | KFA2468 .A75 |
| * Martindale-Hubbell law directory | KF190 .M3 |
| # Law and legal information directory | KF190 .L35 |
| # 2,000 famous legal quotations | KF159 .M25 1992 |
| # Consumer's guide to Arizona law | KFA2481 .M37 1988 |
| # Who's who in American law | KF372 .W48 |
Laws and Legislation
These sources list the current body of law for the United States and
Arizona respectively. The histories of laws are not listed here, but sometimes
you can see recent changes to the laws. Look for the "pocket parts"
in the back for updated material. Also check out the indexes in separate
volumes for each set.
| ** United States Code | KF62 1994 .A2 1995 |
| ** Arizona Revised Statutes | KFA2430.A223 |
Court Cases
These sets come in pairs -- note that there is a "digest" part and a "reporter" part. The Digests can be viewed as a BIG index to the Reporter series. If you need to find cases on a particular topic, just look in the Descriptive Word Index; if you need to find cases involving a particular person or corporation, look in the Defendent-Plaintiff Index. The Digest will provide you with very brief summaries of cases and will provide a "legal citation" which may look like "198 S. Ct 228", or "345 Ariz. 1456". The number preceding the abbreviation is the volume number of the Reporter Series, the abbreviation is for the name of the Reporter Series, and the number following the abbreviation is the page number. So, once you have the legal citation, it's a snap to find the case.
For example:
198 S. Ct. 228 would translate as:
| 198 | means | Volume Number |
| S. Ct. | means | Supreme Court Reporter |
| 228 | means | Page Number |
With this citation, you'd be able to look up the case in the Reporter Series. Please note that these are not transcipts of the trial; that would take up too much space. But the case summation in the Reporter Series gives all the pertinent information about what happened.
Take a look at these sources for Court Cases:
| ** Supreme Court Digest | KF101.1.U55 |
| ** Supreme Court Reporter | KF101.A322 |
| ** Arizona Digest | KFA2457.A7 |
| ** Arizona Reports | KFA2445.A22 |
| * Pacific Digest | KF135 .A6 |
| * Pacific Reporter 2nd Series | KF135.P21 |
| * West's Federal Practice Digest 4th | KF127 .W48 4th |
| * Federal Reporter | KF105.F421 |
Things to Consider:
For all of the above sources, take a look for what indexing is provided. List them all.
Which sources provide "pocket parts" for updated material?
Sample Questions:
I need an article that talks about the legal aspects of Internet security.
My lawyer used the phrase, "communis paries", but I don't know what
that means. Can I find a brief definition?
I need to see an overview of the whole issue of kidnapping.
Can you help?
Have there been any Arizona cases involving Railroad Flagmen? Can you
find a legal citation?
I think there have been Supreme Court cases about wrongful search and seizure. I'd like to look at some of those cases.