Law - Free Web Legal Research Sources  

When starting legal research, there are several questions to be considered.  Is your issue state or federal?  Is the matter civil or criminal? The answers to these questions will impact where you look for your information. 

Another major question is whether the matter is one of primary authority or secondary authority.  Primary Authority is what attorneys cite in legal documents, usually cases, statutes, or regulations.  Secondary authority explains and cites to primary authority, usually journal articles, legal books or treatises, legal encyclopedias, etc. 

You may wish to go to a law library and consult a reference librarian to obtain background information on your issue.  This guide provides links to free, useful legal research tools and databases on the web.

The Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute Legal Citation Finder Bookmarklet allows you to add the citation finder to your favorites and then highlight a legal citation on any subsequent web page to search for it.