A Division of the Library
Charters of government — federal and state — read as written instruments.
§ I
Introduction
Scope of the Division
Constitutions
52 catalogued
The Division of Constitutions holds the founding instruments of the United States and of the several states. Each text is preserved in its received form and read against the structure it establishes.
§ II
What Belongs Here
A division collects materials of a single kind. The following are the working classes of record.
The Constitution of the United States and its amendments
Constitutions of the several states and their successive revisions
Organic acts and territorial charters of historical record
§ III
Research Notes
Notes for the reader on how the materials are catalogued and consulted.
State constitutions are read on their own terms, not as shadows of the federal.
Repealed and superseded provisions are retained for historical reference.
Cross-references run to Judicial Opinions construing the relevant clause.
§ IV
Featured Authorities
The following are representative entries. They have been catalogued and reviewed; the longer record opens by catalogue search.
U.S. Const. art. III, § 2
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1787
The grant of judicial power and the enumeration of the cases and controversies to which it extends.
Source · Constitution of the United States
See also: marbury-v-madison
U.S. Const. amend. IV
U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1
United States · Constitutional Provision · 1868
Source · Reconstruction Amendments
§ V
Related Collections
The following Research Collections gather authority from this division alongside materials from elsewhere in the catalogue.
Collection
The Constitution of the United States and the opinions of the Court that construe it.
Draws from · Constitutions · Judicial Opinions · Historical Documents
§ VII
Related Schools
The Schools below draw their reading from this division. Each enters the Library by way of its own bibliography.
§ VIII
Bibliographic Note
Constitutional provisions are cited to article and section, followed by clause where appropriate.
U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1
§ IX
Within the Library
Authority does not respect divisional boundaries. The following divisions are consulted together with this one.
§ X
Authority Discovery
These indexes are alternative metadata views of the same canonical authority records. They are not separate collections or archives.
Jurisdictions
Authority Types
Membership
Every member of the Society may read every School of the Academy and every division of the Library. Founding Cohort applications are optional and free, open for 90 days once the Society opens the window, and reviewed by the Office of Administration; admission is a designation only. Society Membership dues are now open, and two certificate programs — the Certificate in Legal Research and the Certificate in Estate Administration — are open for enrollment to active Society Members from the Member Academy desk.
