Law Journal Guide

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.

• Go to the Leathery Libraries Homepage.
• In the "Search the Journal A-Z List" search box, enter the title of the journal (not the title of the article), and click Search, or use its Publication Finder (search by the title of the journal)
• Click the hyperlink for the appropriate database, and you will be taken to the journal's homepage within that database. Simply browse your way into the appropriate volume and issue to retrieve your article.
• 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

1. Submit your requests early. Books may take 5-10 business days to arrive.
2. Return your books on time. Returning ILL books late harms our reputation with the lending library.
3. Do not remove paper ILL bands. Our Circulation staff relies on the information on these bands.

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. You can find public laws at the following sources:

• Congress.gov
• ProQuest Congressional 

Next, 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:

• Govinfo.gov: 1994 -present
• HeinOnline: 1925 -present 

Public Law Number

Statutes at Large 

United States Code 

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

• Congress.gov: 1973 -
• Govinfo.gov: 1993 -
• ProQuest Congressional: 1789 -

Congressional Hearings

• Govinfo.gov: selected from 1985 -
• HeinOnline: selected from 1889 -
• ProQuest Legislative Insight: selected legislative histories
• ProQuest Congressional: selected from 1824 -

Congressional Record

• Congress.gov: 1995 -
• Govinfo.gov: 1994 -
• HeinOnline: complete

Congressional Committee Reports

• Congress.gov: 1995 -
• Govinfo.gov: 1995 -
• ProQuest Legislative Insight: selected legislative histories
• ProQuest Congressional: selected from 1789 -

Select Compiled Legislative Histories 

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.