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U.S. Legal Research: Complete Guide (PDF)

U.S. LEGAL RESEARCH: REGULATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW (Primary Source)

I. Introduction to Primary Legal Sources

In legal research vocabulary, the term “primary sources” refers to sources of the law itself. In other words, primary sources of law are the texts of enactments by governments containing rules that govern a jurisdiction. In sum, secondary sources of law (discussed above) are works about the law; primary sources are the law itself.

There are two different general designations for primary sources of law: official and unofficial. Official primary sources of law are texts that are published and/or printed by the enacting government. Unofficial primary sources of law are texts of law published by private publishers (often, but not exclusively, West or Lexis Publishing).

In some jurisdictions, there is no official publication of certain resources and only the unnofficial version exists. For example, federal case law at the appellate and trial level is only published by West. In law practice, attorneys are usually required to cite to an official source, where one exists. However, for legal research, always use the unofficial source because the private publishers will add value to the text of the primary law by including tools and materials that will aid in the legal research process.

Each branch of government, both at the federal and state level, produces law. Understanding the overall landscape of the legal sources is helpful before beginning research of one source or one area of law. The chart below is a simplified overview of the universe of federal law, listing the major types of law publications of each branch. Most state governments will produce law in a similar set-up.

		The Constitution ↓ ↓ ↓
Branch of Govt.	Judicial ↓ ↓	Legislative ↓ ↓	Executive ↓ ↓
Type of Law Produced	Case Law ↓ ↓	Statutes ↓ ↓	Regulations ↓ ↓
Chronological Publication of Law	Case Law Reporters ↓ ↓	Session Laws (Stat. at Large) ↓ ↓	The Federal Register ↓ ↓
Publication of Law By Subject	None	United States Code (USC)	Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

Note that each government branch produces law that is published chronologically. The public laws and regulations are then published in codes by subject. Case law is not published by subject (thus, research case law requires a “finding tool” to locate cases by subject). The following sections will discuss research of each type of primary law in detail.

II. Regulations and Administrative Law

Regulations and administrative law refer to the regulations (also called rules) promulgated by administrative agencies, both on the federal and state levels. Similar to statutes, regulations are published chronologically and then codified into a subject-based code of regulations.

A. Federal Regulations

Federal Regulations are chronologically published in the daily Federal Register (Fed. Reg). This daily publication publishes both proposed and final regulations, executive orders and other official documents from the executive branch and is sometimes referred to as the executive branch’s “daily newspaper.” Next, the regulation codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). This set contains the current federal regulations in force organized by subject.

Federal Register (print)
Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center (LAW)
Current year only in print

Federal Register (microfiche)
Firestone Library (F) 0800.017
Social Science Reference Center: Jan. 1985 – current
Microforms, C Level: 1936 – Dec. 1984

Annual Indexes to the Fed. Reg.
Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center (LAW)
0800.017
1939 - current

CIS Federal Register Index
Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center (LAW)
KF70.A2 C57
1984 - 1998

Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.)
Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center (LAW)
7691.259.11
Current year only.

Electronic Databases

Lexis Academic (Fed. Reg. - July 1, 1980 - current)
Lexis Congressional (C.F.R. - 1981 edition - current)
Westlaw Campus
Hein On Line

Federal Register – vol. 1 (March 14, 1936) through vol. 45 (Dec. 31, 1980)

GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html

Federal Register – vol 60 (1995) through current
Code of Federal Regulations – portion of 1996, 1997 through current

B. State Regulations

New Jersey Register (N.J.R.)
Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center
KFN2240 .A86q
Holdings: Sept. 1969 – current
Like the Federal Register, this publication contains both proposed and final New Jersey regulations.

New Jersey Administrative Code (N.J.A.C.)
Architecture Library (UES): Reference
KFN1835 1995 .A22q
Titles 5, 7, 14, 14A and 16 only
Electronic version available on Lexis State Capital
This set contains the current New Jersey administrative regulations.