As with Canadian legal research, secondary sources are a useful starting point for American legal research because they explain the law and point you towards primary sources.
This page covers starting points for finding secondary sources for American legal research using resources available at Queen's:
There are two leading American legal encyclopedias:
Both are useful for a general and elementary statement of law, for the citations to leading cases, and for the cross-references to other research tools. One major difference between the two is that American Jurisprudence is more selective in citing cases than Corpus Juris Secundum, where editors attempt to cite as many state and federal cases as possible.
To access either of these encyclopedias, type the name into the main search bar from the Westlaw US homepage.
The American Law Reports are a useful series of articles (called "annotations") that summarize and discuss the law on a particular topic. Each annotation is similar to a memorandum of law and exhaustively reviews the leading cases relevant to the specific fact situation raised in the case.
For the Canadian lawyer researching specific US law, the American Law Reports is a good starting point. If an annotation is found dealing with your specific problem, the majority of your US research will have been completed. In each annotation, all US case law specifically on point is analyzed.
To access this resource, type American Law Reports into the main search bar from the Westlaw US homepage.
American jurisprudence will sometimes refer to the Restatements of the Law and uniform laws. Both types of resources are secondary sources; they are not actual laws and should not be treated as primary sources.
The Restatements present an orderly statement of US common law and of judicial interpretation of statutes. The restatements are not codes, but secondary sources, i.e., they are "black letter" rules of law which would be applied by courts. The American Law Institute looks at precedent, but may also espouse minority rules.
Restatements exist for a number of areas including agency, conflicts, contracts, foreign relations, judgments, property, restitution, securities, torts, and trusts. Appendix volumes list court decisions which have considered the restatements.
Use the American Law Institute Library on HeinOnline to find Restatements. You can also use Omni to search for specific Restatements.
Model acts and uniform laws are generic statutes that are created for adoption or adaptation by individual states. The Uniform Law Commission recommends uniform laws (for example, the Uniform Commercial Code).
Uniform Laws Annotated is a series reproducing all uniform laws and indicates which states have adopted them, and can be found on law students' Westlaw US accounts.
Books, textbooks, journal articles, and other secondary sources are fantastic options for familiarizing yourself with a particular area of American law. You can also use this information to guide your search for relevant legislation and case law.
There are multiple methods for finding secondary sources. Visit the Textbooks, Treatises, and More page to learn how to find books and ebooks using Omni. The Journal Literature page also features several strategies for finding journal articles, which are still relevant for finding articles on American law.
Legal dictionaries provide definitions of legal terms.
►See Legal Dictionaries: American Law for a list of American legal dictionaries.
The following texts provide a good introduction to researching American law: