The Caselaw Access Project (“CAP”) expands public access to U.S. law. Its goal is to make all published U.S. court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law School Library.
FindLaw's Cases and Codes section contains resources and links for both state and federal laws. This includes resources pertaining to constitutions, statutes, cases and more. Run a search for case summaries or select a jurisdiction to browse applicable laws.
Justia is proud to offer free access to federal and state court decisions, codes, and regulations. They also provide the full text of the Annotated US Constitution, as well as recent dockets and selected case filings from the US federal district and appellate courts.
The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives.
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the LOC’s Congressional Research Service.
Oyez (pronounced OH-yay)—a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Justia, and Chicago-Kent College of Law—is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. It is the most complete and authoritative source for all of the Court’s audio since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. Oyez offers transcript-synchronized and searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and full-text Supreme Court opinions (through Justia). Oyez also provides detailed information on every justice throughout the Court’s history and offers a panoramic tour of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of several justices.
This is Justia’s US Supreme Court Center. Review recent decisions and news, listen to oral arguments, or browse through our free collection of United States Supreme Court full-text opinions from 1791 to the present. Early editions of US Reports also include opinions by the courts of Pennsylvania from as early as 1754.
The state of New Jersey also has its own state laws. New Jersey state laws include the New Jersey Constitution, laws passed by the New Jersey legislature and periodically codified in the New Jersey Revised Statutes, and decisions by courts that interpret New Jersey laws.
Lexisnexis provides free online access to the New Jersey Administrative Code and New Jersey Register.
Website Evaluation Tips
Think about each of these things when evaluating a website.
Authority: Who is responsible for creating the web page? Is there a publisher or sponsor of the web page? Can you find information about the author and publisher? Might the author and publisher have a bias that could color the information provided on their website? (Hint: Scroll down to the very bottom of the web page to see who owns the copyright to the site.)
Audience: Who is this website created for? Is the content geared towards an age group or population group? If so, is it still an appropriate source for your scholarly research?
Accuracy: How does the information compare to other sources that you have found on the topic? Does the site reference other sources to back-up its information?
Content: What is the content of the website - images, articles, a blog? The type of domain (.edu, .gov, .org) may provide some clues about the information. Can you detect a bias? Are there cited references?
Currency: How recent is the website? Is there information on when it was last updated?
