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1L Law Library Survival Guide

This guide provides an introduction for a new law student to the print and electronic resources in a law library. There are brief explanations of the law library and the types of legal resources.

What Are the Different Types of Legal Materials?

Primary and Secondary sources.

  • Primary law consists of constitutions, statutes, administrative law, and court cases. Primary law is “the law” as issued by authoritative bodies.
  • Secondary sources, such as law review articles, books by experts (often referred to as “treatises”), and legal encyclopedias, comment upon and explain primary law, but do not have the force of law that primary law has.  Secondary Sources are usually the best place to start your research so that you get an introduction to the area and any special terminology you might need.

Federal and State materials.

  • The U.S. federal government and each of the state governments make their own laws and regulations. A legal issue may be a federal (for example, copyright law) or state (for example, child custody law) or both (for example, labor law where federal and state statutes might apply). Courts and judges can be federal or state. There are also county and municipal courts and judges which derive their authority from the local state government.

Legal Abbreviations

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