Law Library Research Desk
(714) 628-2548
lawlib@chapman.edu
Can't figure out what a citation abbreviation means? Use Prince’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, available at KF246 .B46 in the Reference Area (1st floor).
Prince's Dictionary of Legal Citations by 
Advanced Search Strategies for Google
Limit the number of irrelevant results Google retrieves for search terms by specifying the document type by document suffix or by type of web site.
Example: California Charter Cities and Counties type:pdf
Other possible document types: type:ppt (PowerPoint slides), type:doc
To retrieve only certain types of websites, add site:.gov or site:.edu to retrieve either government or educational websites only.
Google's Special Collections
Find scholarly articles that might be available via subscription or open-access databases at Google Scholar.
Find excerpts from Google's digital library at Google Books.
This page provides links to the best places to find a number of commonly cited sources. If you need assistance finding a source not listed here, please contact us at the Law Library Research Desk, (714) 628-2548 or lawlib@chapman.edu.
Most law journal articles will be available in PDF format on HeinOnline's Law Journal Library. If you cannot find a journal, try searching for the journal's title in the Law Library catalog.
During the cite-checking process, you will likely encounter citations to articles from non-law journals that you will not be able to find on HeinOnline. To find non-law journals, follow these steps.
1. Go to the Leatherby Libraries Homepage.
2. Click on the "Publication Finder" link, enter the title of the journal (not the title of the article), and click Search;
3. Click the hyperlink for a database that contains the journal (there might be more than one), and you will be taken to the journal's homepage within that database. Browse for the appropriate volume and issue to retrieve your article or search by article title.
You will likely not be able to find an official PDF of the table of contents on the publisher's website. This is okay, as the website should show the page numbers on which each article begins. Do not submit an ILL request solely for the table of contents in this circumstance.
First, check if either the Law Library or Leatherby has the book available by searching in the catalog. If not, submit an interlibrary loan request using the link below. (If we are operating in remote conditions in the future, please email lawlib@chapman.edu to acquire books from the Law Library, and submit an ILL request for any books you require from Leatherby.)
Interlibrary Loan Etiquette
You may come across federal statutes cited in a number of different ways, representing the ways in which statutes are published. When a statute is enacted, it is assigned a public law number and is published as a slip law. In a citation, this will look like "Pub. L. No. 87-195." In this example, this statute was the 195th law enacted by the 87th Congress. Public laws are also called session laws since they are enacted during a two-year Congressional session. You can find public laws at the following sources:
At the end of a Congressional session, public laws are compiled and published chronologically in the Statutes at Large. In a citation, this will look like "75 Stat. 424." In this example, this statute can be found on page 424 of the 75th volume of the Statutes at Large. The first number does not correspond with the Congress number. The complete run of the Statutes at Large can be found on HeinOnline.
Finally, statutes are organized by subject matter and codified in the U.S. Code. In a citation, this will look like "42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006)." This citation refers to section 1983 of Title 42 of the Code, found in the 2006 version of the Code. The official version of the U.S. Code is published every six years. You can find the U.S. Code at the following sources:
Legislative history essentially refers to the documents produced by Congress before a bill became enacted. This includes things like bills, floor debate, committee hearings, etc. Use this cheat sheet to help you find these materials. If (and only if) these options fail, search for the document in the Law Library catalog, as you may be able to view and print it on microform.
Congressional Bills
Congressional Hearings
Congressional Record
Congressional Committee Reports
The agencies of the executive branch produce a vast amount of material, but the sources you are most likely to run across are the Code of Federal regulations (cited as C.F.R.) and the Federal Register (cited as Fed. Reg. or F.R.). You may also come across citations to executive orders. You can find these materials at the following sources.
Code of Federal Regulations
Federal Register
Executive Orders (in Daily/Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents)
Regulatory Histories (collections of regulatory materials associated with statutes)
Use ProQuest Supreme Court Insight (1979-Current) or Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs (1832-1978) to locate Supreme Court materials including briefs (both parties' briefs and amicus briefs), petitions, oral arguments, and slip opinions.
As with federal statutes in the Statutes at Large, California statutes are compiled chronologically in a publication called Statutes and Amendments to the Codes of California. You can find the Statutes and Amendments from 1850 - 2008 online at the California State Assembly's website.
Like federal statutes in the U.S. Code, California statutes are arranged by subject in the California Codes. California has no "official" printed legislative code. The official versions of the Codes are maintained at the California Legislative Information website.
California bills from 1999 through the present can be found on the California Legislative Information website.
California has contracted with Barclays to print the official version of the California Code of Regulations (CCR). An electronic version is available on the CCR website hosted by Thomson Reuters.