This page is meant to highlight essential legal materials for your studies. Most are found in Westlaw, but you'll also find several links to resources in other PG Library databases or online.
Legal & General Reference
American Jurisprudence, 2dFrom Westlaw: "This comprehensive legal encyclopedia contains textual statements of law alphabetically arranged in more than 400 topics."
Black's Law DictionaryDescription from Westlaw: "The gold standard for the language of law, this new edition defines more than 50,000 terms and has 16,000 new definitions."
Corpus Juris SecundumFrom Westlaw: "Cited and quoted as authority in courtrooms across the country, C.J.S., a national legal encyclopedia, covers state and federal legal topics from A to Z. General rules of law are summarized in blackletter law headings and expanded upon in the text. The book also provides the limitations and exceptions to the rules where appropriate."
GVRL - General Reference Encyclopedias & DictionariesOptimized for search and discovery, the GVRL platform enables you to search through over 1,200 nonfiction e-books on health, business, law, and more within a single search. Result lists highlight entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other nonfiction reference books so you can go directly to the information you need.
Secondary Sources
Westlaw - All Secondary SourcesLists all Secondary Sources available from Westlaw. Use the filters and browsing tools to narrow the list by publication type, topic, or another field.
EBSCO - Law Articles & BooksThis link leads to the Law section of EBSCO's Publication Finder tool. It lists known e-books and journals held by PG Library databases (including those from ProQuest and HeinOnline).
HeinOnline - Law Journal LibraryDescription from HeinOnline: "Contains more than 2,600 law and law-related periodicals. Subjects covered include criminal justice, political science, technology, human rights, and more. Coverage for all journals is from inception and goes through the most currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers. About 90% of journals are available through the current issue or volume."
American Law ReportsDescription from Westlaw" "American Law Reports organize, summarize, and analyze pertinent federal and state caselaw on particular legal issues. Issues include those involving statutory and common law, practice and procedure, and rules and regulations. Each article reviews the cases discussing the relevant point of law. The articles also contain research references and practice pointers."
U.S. Code AnnotatedDescription from Westlaw: "United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) contains documents from the United States Constitution and titles of the United States Code Annotated, and includes court rules, Federal Sentencing Guidelines, certain sections from the Code of Federal Regulations, and appendices. A document is an annotated section of the United States Code Annotated. Provisions from Public Laws classified as notes in the United States Code can be found under the corresponding section of United States Code Annotated. Ongoing updates are incorporated into the affected titles of the United States Code Annotated."
U.S. Statutes at LargeDescription from Westlaw: "Historical enactments passed during past sessions of Congress and Presidential Proclamations, beginning with the first session of First Congress through the second session of the 92nd Congress in PDF format. Coverage includes Public Laws passed by Congress."
U.S. Supreme Court CasesDescription from Westlaw: "U.S. Supreme Court Cases contain documents from the U.S. Supreme Court. A document is a case (a decision or order) decided by the court. Note: Orders affecting rules are available in the United States Code Annotated (USCA) content."
Uniform Laws AnnotatedDescription from Westlaw: "Uniform Laws Annotated contains the complete set of uniform or model acts, codes and rules with commentaries and notes regarding differences in various enacted state laws."
California Resources
California Attorney General OpinionsDescription from Westlaw: "California Attorney General Opinions contains documents released by the Attorney General of California. A document is an opinion letter prepared by the Attorney General's office. Coverage begins with 1977 (60 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 53), with selected documents beginning in 1955. New documents are included as they are released by the state; Slip copy documents are obtained directly from the State for Westlaw."
California Code of RegulationsDescription from Westlaw: "The California Administrative Code contains documents from Barclays Official California Code of Regulations (CCR)."
California JurisprudenceDescription from Westlaw: "Constitutional, statutory, judicial, and administrative laws are integrated for a complete analysis on every aspect of California law."
California Jury Instructions, Criminal (CALJIC)Description from Westlaw: "California Jury Instructions - Criminal (CALJIC) provides the most time-tested set of criminal jury instructions available in California."
California Statutes & Court RulesDescription from Westlaw: "California Statutes & Court Rules includes current versions of CA statutes, constitution, and court rules."
Witkin California Criminal LawDescription from Westlaw: "California Criminal Law provides explanation and analysis of California law on crimes, punishment, and criminal procedure."
Witkin California EvidenceDescription from Westlaw: "The definitive treatise on California evidence, Witkin California Evidence explains the law of evidence and the discovery, production, and presentation of evidence for civil and criminal practice."
Witkin California ProcedureDescription from Westlaw: "The definitive treatise on California civil procedure, California Procedure efficiently organizes and clearly presents this vast area of practice."
Witkin Summary of California LawDescription from Westlaw: "Summary of California Law, Eleventh Edition delivers a concise statement and critical examination of every major substantive subject of California statutory and decisional law."
