U.S. Const. art. III, § 2
Judicial Power of the United States
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1787
I. ConstitutionsCurrent
The Research Library
An archive of the institution
The Research Library
The Library is the institutional archive — the catalogued record of primary legal authority from which the Schools teach and the Press publishes. The catalogue is open; the divisions are permanent; the work is continuous.
Search the catalogue
Begin with a citation, a title, or a jurisdiction.
The catalogue is the entry to the archive. Begin with a citation, a title, or a jurisdiction; narrow by division as the search develops.
Division
U.S. Const. amend. IV
Searches and Seizures
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1791
I. ConstitutionsCurrentU.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1
Citizenship, Privileges, Due Process, Equal Protection
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1868
I. ConstitutionsCurrentU.C.C. § 9-203
Attachment and Enforceability of a Security Interest
Uniform Law · Uniform Act Section · 2010
II. StatutesCurrent15 U.S.C. § 1692e
False or Misleading Representations
United States · Federal Statute · 1977
II. StatutesCurrentUnif. Trust Code § 801 (2000)
Duty to Administer Trust
Uniform Law · Uniform Act Section · 2000
II. StatutesCurrent12 C.F.R. § 1026.18
Content of Disclosures (Regulation Z)
United States — Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection · Federal Regulation · Current
III. RegulationsCurrent26 C.F.R. § 301.7701-3
Classification of Certain Business Entities
United States — Internal Revenue Service · Federal Regulation · Current
III. RegulationsCurrent
§ I
Mission of the Library
On the work of an institutional library.
A research library does one thing well: it keeps the record in the form in which it was made and lets the reader return to it. Our Library catalogues the constitutions and statutes, the regulations and the rules of the courts, the opinions that construe them, and the accepted reference works that survey them. The catalogue is curated, not exhaustive; the standards of admission are public; and the record itself is preserved as received, so that scholarship has a permanent place to begin and a permanent place to return.
§ II
Research Collections
Eleven permanent divisions.
Eleven permanent divisions organize the archive. Each is a department of the catalogue, opened as records are confirmed under faculty review.
Catalogue Divisions
XI Divisions · The Library
Constitutions
Charters of government — federal and state — read as written instruments.
52
Statutes
Codified federal and state statutory law, organized by title and chapter.
384
Regulations
The Code of Federal Regulations and state administrative codes.
212
Court Rules
Federal and state rules of procedure, evidence, and local practice.
168
Judicial Opinions
Selected opinions of the federal and state courts of record.
96
Administrative Guidance
Agency interpretive material — revenue rulings, advisory opinions, and policy statements.
78
Historical Documents
Founding-era charters, antecedent instruments, and treaty texts.
41
Treatises
Restatements, hornbooks, and reference works of accepted authority.
124
Practice Manuals
Procedural handbooks compiled by clerks, judges, and the bar.
64
Forms
Court-approved forms, registers, and recorder instruments.
137
Research Collections
Curated bodies of authority gathered by subject across the divisions.
10
§ III
Primary Sources
The law itself.
The primary sources are the law itself. The catalogue is arranged so each class can be read on its own terms before it is read against the others.
Constitutions
The founding instruments of the United States and of the several states. Constitutions establish the structure of government and the limits of its power; every statute, regulation, and judicial opinion is read against them.
Statutes
Enactments of the legislature, organized by code and section. Statutes speak the law of the people through their representatives and are the first source of authority after the constitution itself.
Regulations
Rules promulgated by administrative agencies under statutory authority. Regulations bind with the force of law when properly issued and are read alongside the statute they implement.
Judicial Opinions
The reasoned decisions of the courts. Opinions construe the constitution, statutes, and regulations, and accumulate as the common law of each jurisdiction. The opinion is the proof of the rule.
Court Rules
The rules of procedure and evidence that govern litigation in each court. They are not commentary on the substantive law; they are the law of how the substantive law is heard.
Treaties
Agreements between sovereigns, ratified through the constitutional process. Treaties enter the supreme law of the land and govern matters from commerce to extradition to human rights.
§ IV
Secondary Sources
The works that organize the record.
Secondary sources organize the primary record and explain its structure. They are consulted to orient and to teach; they do not replace the text they survey.
Treatises
Systematic expositions of a field of law by recognized authorities. A treatise organizes the primary record and explains its structure; it does not replace the primary record itself.
Practice Manuals
Working guides to the conduct of a matter — pleadings, motions, hearings, and post-judgment practice. Practice manuals teach the procedure that surrounds the substantive law.
Law Reviews
Scholarly articles, notes, and commentary published by the law journals. Law reviews track doctrine as it develops and propose reform; they are persuasive only and cite to primary authority.
Research Guides
Institutional pathfinders that orient the researcher to a body of authority and the conventions used to cite it. A research guide is a map of the record, not the record itself.
Dictionaries
Reference works that fix the legal meaning of terms of art. A legal dictionary is consulted to confirm definition, not to settle disputed construction.
Encyclopedias
General surveys of the law arranged by subject. Encyclopedias provide entry into an unfamiliar field and direct the researcher to the primary authorities that govern it.
§ V
Research Guides
Working methods for the research desk.
Research guides are not courses. Each is a working method for a particular body of authority — concise, repeatable, and grounded in primary sources.
Beginning Legal Research
The first guide. State the question, identify the body of authority that can answer it, and consult the hierarchy in order. Research begins with what is being asked.
Reading Statutes
The methodical reading of an enactment — title, section, subsection, and the surrounding definitions. The text governs; commentary follows.
Reading Judicial Opinions
Distinguishing holding from dictum, majority from concurrence, and the rule of the case from the facts that produced it. The opinion is read for the rule it states and the proof it offers.
Administrative Research
Locating the agency, the enabling statute, the regulation, and the guidance documents that the agency itself relies upon. Administrative law is a record of delegated authority.
Legislative History
The committee reports, hearings, and floor debates that surround an enactment. Legislative history is consulted with care and never displaces the text it accompanies.
Citation Research
The standard citation forms accepted by the bar and the courts. A citation is a claim until it has been opened; the form preserves the chain of proof.
§ VI
Using the Library
The discipline of the reading room.
A working method, taught in the Schools and applied in the Library. The seven steps are not stages of difficulty; they are stages of proof.
The hierarchy of authority is the path. The citation is the proof. The record is the work.
Method · I → VII
Locate
Consult the divisions in their hierarchy: constitution, statute, regulation, court rule, opinion, guidance. The hierarchy is the path; the path is the first answer.
Read
Read the authority in its received form. Read the surrounding sections, the definitions, and the cross-references. The text governs.
Compare
Compare related authorities — earlier and later, federal and state, majority and dissent. Comparison is how meaning is tested.
Verify
Open each citation against its source. A citation is a claim until it has been confirmed against the record it purports to describe.
Cite
Record the authority in the form the bar accepts. The citation is the proof, and the proof is the work.
Organize
Keep a research record — the question, the authorities consulted, the citations verified, and the conclusions drawn. The record is portable; the memory is not.
Continue Research
Return to the catalogue with the next question. The Library is a working archive; the work is never finished, only resumed.
§ VII
Featured Collections
Curated paths through the catalogue.
Featured collections gather authority across the divisions by subject. They are working bibliographies, revised as the underlying record is revised.
Collection
Commercial Law
The Uniform Commercial Code and the federal law of commercial paper, secured transactions, and sales.
Draws from · Statutes · Regulations · Treatises
Collection
Property
Estates in land, recorded instruments, and the chain of title.
Draws from · Statutes · Judicial Opinions · Treatises
Collection
Trust Administration
The instrument, the governing statute, and the fiduciary duties of the trustee.
Draws from · Statutes · Treatises
Collection
Foreclosure
Judicial and non-judicial foreclosure, with the rules of procedure and the recorded record.
Draws from · Statutes · Court Rules · Forms
Collection
Consumer Credit
The federal consumer credit statutes and the regulations that implement them.
Draws from · Statutes · Regulations · Administrative Guidance
Collection
Taxation
The Internal Revenue Code, the Treasury regulations, and the interpretive guidance of the Service.
Draws from · Statutes · Regulations · Administrative Guidance
Collection
Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the controlling decisions that construe them.
Draws from · Court Rules · Judicial Opinions · Practice Manuals
Collection
Constitutional Law
The Constitution of the United States and the opinions of the Court that construe it.
Draws from · Constitutions · Judicial Opinions · Historical Documents
Collection
Legal History
The antecedent instruments and the long development of the common law and equity.
Draws from · Historical Documents · Judicial Opinions
Collection
Research Methods
The hierarchy of authority, the discipline of citation, and the architecture of a research record.
Draws from · Treatises · Practice Manuals
§ VIII
Research Standards
The principles that govern the work.
Six standing principles govern research at the Society. They are short by design and apply to every division of the archive.
Primary Authority First
Every research question is answered first from primary authority. Secondary sources are consulted to orient and explain; they do not displace the text of the law.
Source Verification
Every citation is opened against the source it names. A claim about authority is provisional until the underlying text confirms it.
Citation Accuracy
Citations are recorded in the form accepted by the courts of the jurisdiction. Accuracy of citation is accuracy of proof.
Historical Context
Authorities are read in the period in which they were enacted or decided. Superseded provisions are retained for the record they leave behind.
Procedural Relevance
Substance is read alongside procedure. A rule of decision is incomplete without the rule of the court that hears it.
Editorial Integrity
Entries enter the catalogue only after faculty review. Corrections are recorded against the entry; the record of correction is part of the record.
§ IX
Frequently Asked Questions
What readers most often ask.
The questions most often put to the Library, answered in the language the catalogue itself uses.
§ X
Begin Research
Enter the working record.
The Library is a living archive. New authorities are catalogued under continuous editorial review; the entries below are the most recent to enter the working record.
Recently Catalogued Authorities
Continuous editorial review
The Library is continuously curated. The entries below are the most recent to enter the working record under faculty review; each opens onto its catalogue page in the corresponding division.
U.S. Const. art. III, § 2
Judicial Power of the United States
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1787
I. ConstitutionsCurrentU.S. Const. amend. IV
Searches and Seizures
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1791
I. ConstitutionsCurrentU.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1
Citizenship, Privileges, Due Process, Equal Protection
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1868
I. ConstitutionsCurrentU.C.C. § 9-203
Attachment and Enforceability of a Security Interest
Uniform Law · Uniform Act Section · 2010
II. StatutesCurrent15 U.S.C. § 1692e
False or Misleading Representations
United States · Federal Statute · 1977
II. StatutesCurrentUnif. Trust Code § 801 (2000)
Duty to Administer Trust
Uniform Law · Uniform Act Section · 2000
II. StatutesCurrent
LibraryAuthorities · Divisions · CitationThe Real Law Society
Continue your research
The catalogue is open. The work begins at the citation.
Search the Library, browse the divisions, or open the latest entries to the working record. The Reading Room extends the catalogue with member-only collections, saved research, and continuing study.
The Real Law Society · Est. MMXXVRead Law. Not Lore.Vol. I — Folio I