Ross-Blakley Law Library               ASU Library Catalog

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Secondary Legal Materials

Access

The call numbers on this page link to library catalog records, which provide information about location, availability, and currency of each item in the Ross-Blakley Law Library.

Westlaw and LexisNexis links will take you to the specified database if you have a password. These links work better if you are already logged in. The College of Law provides Westlaw and LexisNexis passwords to its law faculty, staff, and students. Westlaw and LexisNexis links open in a new window.

Legal Dictionaries

Definitions and pronunciations of legal words. Citations to cases which have defined the term are included. Many of the standard legal dictionaries such as Bouvier's and Ballentine's are no longer kept up to date.

Black's Law Dictionary
KF 156 .B53
Westlaw: BLACKS
A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage
KF 156 .G367
LexisNexis: LEXREF;DMLU
West's Tax Law Dictionary
KF 6287 .W473
Westlaw: DITAXWTDB
Words and Phrases
KF 156 .W67
Words and Phrases consists of over 50 volumes of legal definitions. It is a collection of abstracts of cases which have interpreted or defined the terms. This set is kept up to date with pocket parts.

Encyclopedias

Set of books with essays on all topics of the law organized alphabetically. Encyclopedias should be used as an introduction to the area of the law, not as a final authority.

Corpus Juris Secundum
C.J.S. covers over 400 topics. Since 1961 it has included references to West topics and key numbers.
KF 154 .C56
Westlaw: CJS
American Jurisprudence 2d
Am. Jur. 2d covers over 400 topics. Consult the Table of Parallel References at the front of each volume for sections which may have been relocated.
KF 154 .A42
LexisNexis: 2NDARY;AMJUR
Westlaw: AMJUR
State Encyclopedias

How to Use the Encyclopedias

  1. Index
  2. Topic Outline
  3. Table of Statutes, Rules and Regulations

Legal Periodicals

Legal periodicals analyze and describe the law. There are five types of legal periodicals:

  1. Law Reviews (published by the law schools and containing scholarly articles by legal experts)
  2. Bar Journals (published by state and county bar associations)
  3. Subject and special interest journals
  4. Legal newspapers
  5. Newsletters

Finding Articles in Legal Periodicals

Index to Legal Periodicals
Coverage from 1908 to 2007
K 33 .I533
Available online from Law Library computers: Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective (1908–1981)
Current Law Index
Coverage from 1980 to current
K 33 .C87 — not updated after 2001; for later coverage search:
LexisNexis: LEXREF;LGLIND
Westlaw: LRI
LegalTrac — Available online from Law Library computers

American Law Reports (A.L.R.)

American Law Reports consist of two parts. Cases are selectively reported. The publisher chooses cases on emerging trends in the law or on points of law which have not been resolved. Annotations (memoranda or essays) follow each of the cases and analyze the point of law that is dealt with in the case.

American Law Reports
KF 132 .A45 LAW CORE
Westlaw: ALR

Finding A.L.R. Annotations

  1. ALR Index (includes 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and federal series)
    KF 132 .A55
  2. ALR Digest (includes 2nd, 3rd,4th, 5th and federal series)
    KF 132.1 .A42
  3. Table of Laws, Rules and Regulations (contained in the last volume of the ALR Index)

Restatements

Produced by the American Law Institute, the purpose is to present a clear and precise statement of the common law, including prediction as well as restatement.

  • Restatements are located in the CORE section of the reading room under their call number. The restatements can also be located by using the online catalog.
  • Westlaw and LexisNexis under various database names

Treatises and CLE materials

  • Commentary sources by legal writers on case law and legislation pertaining to a particular subject and written in book form. CLE materials are published by state and national organizations. The Arizona CLE material may be useful for researching law specific to Arizona.
  • Treatises and CLE materials can be found using the Library Catalog — http://library.lib.asu.edu/.


By Marianne Alcorn; updated 5/08.