Research Tools and Techniques: Find Legal Cases and Laws

Local: 

• Baytown City Charter & Ordinances
• Mont Belvieu City Ordinances
• Dayton City Charter & Ordinances
• Liberty City Charter & Ordinances

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State:

• Texas Constitution and Statutes: Laws passed by the Texas legislature
• Texas Administrative Code: Rules and regulations from Texas government agencies
• Texas case law:  Find on Texas Judicial Branch website [use the "Courts" menu], in online law databases, legal reporters or digests.

Federal:

• United States Code:  "the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States"
• Code of Federal Regulations: General and permanent rules published by federal government agencies
• Executive Orders: Executive orders issued by U.S. presidents since 1994.
• Case law : Laws that are based on judicial decisions. Find using case law online databases or law digests.

Primary legal sources

• Written and issued directly by a government entity.  Examples:
  • Statutory law:  from state or federal legislature
    • Vernon's Texas Codes Annotated
    • Vernon's Civil Statutes of the State of Texas Annotated
  • Case law: from state or federal courts
    • Texas Supreme Court orders and opinions
    • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals case search
    • United States Courts Opinions
    • Reporters (i.e., South Western Reporter -- LC print version not updated)
    • Online law databases, such as Westlaw
  • Administrative law: from state or federal agencies
• Use to find out what the law currently or historically says

Secondary Legal Sources

• Explain, summarize or analyze laws
• Issued by a publishing company, law journal, non-profit organization, etc., NOT from a government entity.
• May help you find statutory or case laws that pertain to your research
• Examples:  
  • Legal encyclopedias (i.e., Texas Jurisprudence - LC print version not updated)
  • Legal digests (i.e., West's Texas Digest - LC print version not updated)
  • Law reviews & journals (i.e., Georgetown Law Journal)

For more information on legal primary and secondary sources and how to use them, see the Texas State Law Library's Guide.

Please note that with the exception of Vernon's guides, most of Lee College Library's print legal holdings are NO LONGER UPDATED. 

The use of print legal sources from Lee College Library should be limited to educational use for students learning HOW to do legal research. 

For personal research on law and legal topics, please make sure you are using current sources.  Library staff will be happy to direct you to appropriate sources if you need help. 

1. Legal Encyclopedia (Example: Texas Jurisprudence)
   • Look up your topic in the general index, found in several volumes shelved at the end of the set.
   • Go to the legal topic and section number of the laws you're researching (i.e., Family Law § 444).
     • It will tell you which volume and page number to find a summary of the law & supporting cases
   • Read summary and find cases by looking for the footnotes at the end of the summary.
   • Always check the pocket part.
2. Statutes and Codes (Example: Vernon's Texas Code Annotated):
   • Look up your terms in the General Index.
   • Jot down the statutory citation (i.e., 42 TEX FAM. CODE ANN § 403(c)).
   • Open that section and examine the table of contents of case notes that help interpret the statute to find a relevant case.
   • Sometimes it also points you to other useful secondary tools like legal forms. Check pocket part.
3. Legal Digest (Example: West's Texas Digest):
   • Find definitions of legal terms in the Words and Phrases Index.
   • For general case law, use the Descriptive Word Index to find your topic.
   • Copy the citation for your legal issue.
   • Find the appropriate volume, read the case summaries and check pocket part.
     Jot down the case citation: (i.e., 207 S.W. 2d 723)
   • Find your case in the SW. Reporter.