1L Law Library Survival Guide

            SOURCES OF "THE LAW"

 

DESCRIPTION	FEDERAL	NEW YORK State and Municipal
establishes structure of government	U.S. Constitution (in U.S.C.A., U.S.C.S.)	State - New York Constitution (in McKinney's) Municipal - Charter (e.g. NYC Charter)
Legislative - Statutes	Congress	Assembly and Senate
session law enacted by legislature, organized chronolgically subject compilation of legislation currently in force="Code"	Public Law (PL) (Stat., U.S.C.C.A.N.) United States Code (U.S.C., U.S.C.A., U.S.C.S.)	State   Municipal Chapter Law (in McKinney's Session Laws)   McKinney's (black vols), CLS   Local Laws Administrative Code
Executive (Administrative) - Regulations	President and Agencies	Governor and Agencies
chronological publication of regulations and executive actions   subject compilation of final regulations and executive actions currently in force="Code"-regulations or "administrative"	Federal Register (Fed. Reg., FR) Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.)	State   Municipal New York State Register     Official Compilation of the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York (N.Y.C.R.R.)       Rules of Municipal agencies ( for very large municipalities only)
Judicial  opinions- Cases	Federal Courts	State Courts
highest court appellate court trial court	U.S. Supreme Court (U.S., S. Ct., L. Ed. 2d) Courts of Appeals (2nd Circuit for N.Y.) (F.3d) Federal District Courts (F.Supp.3d, F.R.D.)	Court of Appeals (N.Y.3d, N.Y.S.2d) Appellate Division (A.D.3d, N.Y.S.2d) Supreme Court (Misc.3d, N.Y.S.2d)

Common Legal Abbreviations

A.3d, A.2d, A. = Atlantic Reporter*

A.D.3d, A.D.2d, A.D. = N.Y. Appellate Division Reports

B.R. = Bankruptcy Reporter

Cal. Rptr. 3d, Cal. Rptr. 2d, Cal. Rptr. = California Reporter

C.F.R. = Code of Federal Regulations

CLS = Consolidated Laws Service (NY)

F.3d, F.2d, F. = Federal Reporter

F. Supp. 3d, F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. = Federal Supplement

Fed. Reg., FR = Federal Register

F.R.D. = Federal Rules Decisions

L. Ed. 2d, L. Ed. = Supreme Court Reports Lawyers' Edition

Misc. 3d, Misc. 2d, Misc. = N.Y. Miscellaneous Reports

N.E.3d, N.E.2d, N.E. = Northeastern Reporter*

N.W.2d, N.W. = Northwestern Reporter*

N.Y.3d, N.Y.2d, N.Y. = New York Reports

N.Y.C.R.R. = Official Compilation of the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York

N.Y.S.2d, N.Y.S. = New York Supplement

P.3d, P.2d, P. = Pacific Reporter*

PL, Pub. L. = Public Law

S.Ct. = Supreme Court Reporter

S.E.2d, S.E. = Southeastern Reporter*

So. 3d, So. 2d, So. = Southern Reporter*

Stat. = United States Statutes at Large

S.W.3d, S.W.2d, S.W. = Southwestern Reporter*

U.S. = United States Reports

U.S.C. = United States Code

U.S.C.A. = United States Code Annotated

U.S.C.C.A.N. = United States Code Congressional and Administrative News

U.S.C.S. = United States Code Service

 

* Regional Reporters