Law and Education: Selected Sources

Professor: George Isaacson
Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft ( )
Fall 2005
 

Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to help you identify and use Bowdoin College Library's electronic and print sources for the study of law and education. If you have questions about your research, please feel free to consult the reference librarians or Ginny Hopcroft (ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu).


Background for Legal Research

Law cases are not cataloged individually in the Library's online catalog. Law cases are traditionally published together in sets of volumes called law reporters. They are now also published in electronic databases. The traditional legal citation form is used in both print and electronic collections to identify and locate cases. To locate a case in print, you must know the law reporter name (i.e., Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Editon) and the case citation, which tells you volume and page. Law cases are consistently cited in this format:
Volume number / Abbreviation of Law Reporter Name / Page number
1 L. Ed. 2d. 1479

In the above example "1" is the volume, "L. Ed. 2d" is the abbreviation for the law reporter (United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyers' Edition 2nd Series) and "1479" is the page number. Citations usually accompany case names in the texts of case decisions and in law journal articles. With a citation, you can readily find the case in a print law reporter or in an online database.

Finding Print Law Cases by Citation

Follow these steps when you have a case law citation:

  1. Figure out which law reporter you need from the abbreviation in the citation - see the section on Law Reporters.
  2. Find the library classification number for the law reporter cited - see the section on Law Reporters.
  3. Locate the print law reporter in the Govt Doc stacks.
  4. Find the individual case within the multiple volumes of the law reporter by locating the correct volume and page number. For Supreme Court cases, we have two law reporters. The text of the decision is identical in both. The United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition is usually preferred because of its supplemental annotations.

Finding Law Cases by Name

Although citations are frequently provided, sometimes you may only have the name of the case. Follow these steps to locate a case by litigants' names:

  1. From the Indexes/Databases list, go to the LexisNexis Academic:Legal Research or to Westlaw Campus.
  2. Select "Get a Case." in LexisNexis; in Westlaw Campus the search box is on the front page.
  3. Type the names of the litigants; press enter.
  4. Full text of the case appears on the screen.
  5. The case can be read from the screen, downloaded, printed, or emailed to an account.
  6. For research purposes the format and annotations of the print law reporters may be preferred. Note the citation in the database and go to the print version of the appropriate law reporter, if available. The law reporters in the Bowdoin collection will include Supreme Court, Federal District Court and Federal Appeals Court cases, as well as State of Maine Supreme Court.

Finding Law Cases by Subject

Sometimes you may want to find a law case on a subject, for example, an education law case involving the first amendment. This process is cumbersome in LexisNexis; Westlaw Campus' quick search feature is helpful but not comprehensive. Other subject searching strategies are:

  1. Look in one of the legal encyclopedias in Reference.
  2. Go to the Cornell Law School website - http://www.law.cornell.edu/
  3. Search the print Index to Legal Periodicals.
  4. Search LexisNexis Academic "Area of Law by Topic.""Legal News," or "Law Reviews.&quot
  5. Search "Encyclopedias and Law Reviews"in Westlaw Campus.

Print Law Reporters

United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition.
Govt Doc KF 101 .A5 U5
Citation Form: 120 L. Ed. 2d. 467
Supreme Court decisions with supplemental annotations, headnotes and summaries.
United States Reports: Reports of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Govt Doc Ju 6.8:
Citation Form: 112 U.S. 2649
Texts of official decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court with no supplemental material.
U.S. Supreme Court records and briefs [microform]: full opinion.
Govt Micro
Microfiche edition, 1969/70--present
In addition to full decisions for U.S. Supreme Court cases, this microfiche series provides the briefs and opinions of the individual justices.

Federal Supplement
Govt Doc KF120.A5:F4
Citation Form: 728 F. Supp. 68
U.S. District Court decisions, compiled in chronological order.
The Federal Reporter, 1880--present
Govt Doc KF 105.A5: F4 (Government Documents Collection)
Citation form: 66F. 3rd 1025
Decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Maine Reporter
Govt Doc Maine J 90.28 (Government Documents Collection), 1966-
Citation Form: 577 A. 2nd 765
Decisions from the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. For caselaw from other states, please see LexisNexis Academic or Westlaw.

Reference Books

Education and the Law: a Dictionary
Main Ref KF 4117 .T39 1996
Education Law
Main Ref KF 4119 .R36 1984
Guide to American Law
Main Ref KF 154 .G85
Encyclopedia of Education
Main Ref LB 15 .E47 2003

Indexes and Databases

LexisNexis Academic
Online
Fulltext web database of news and legal information.
Westlaw Campus
Online
Fulltext database of caselaw, statutes, law journals and reviews.
Index to Legal Periodicals, 1926 to present.
Periodical Index Area
Yearly print subject index to law reviews. Also includes specialized indices at the back which list articles about specific cases or related to individual statutes.

Selected Internet Resources

Legal Information Institute from the Cornell Law School
http://www.law.cornell.edu/
Findlaw
http://www.findlaw.com/
Reflaw
http://www.washlaw.edu/