Legal Databases

To browse a list of databases with content descriptions, please see the A-Z list below.

NOTE:  All links below open in a new window.

Some databases are only available on-campus unless you have an OU 4x4 faculty, staff, or student login. Please see the Reference Desk for assistance.


Starting Points

  • bepress Legal Repository: The bepress Legal Repository is a network of law-related research materials. Law schools, research units, institutes, centers, think tanks, conferences, and other subject-appropriate groups post materials to working paper series, journals and institutional repositories. Users can search journals and working paper series or browse content by institution, subject, or author.  Also supports customized e-mail or RSS alerts and e-mailed tables of contents. 
  • Bloomberg BNA.:  BNA is the foremost publisher of print and electronic news, analysis, and reference products, providing intensive coverage of legal and regulatory developments for professionals in business and government. Decision-makers in many fields turn to BNA for detailed, up-to-the-minute news and information on the ever-shifting landscape of laws and regulations that influence business decisions.
  • Bloomberg Law: Provides access to primary law and regulations as well as legal news and analysis. Also includes treatises published by BNA, ABA, and PLI. OU Law faculty and students can obtain access by setting up an account on the Bloomberg Law home page (Request a Law School Account).
  • CCH Intelliconnect:  Contains the full-text of treatises, journals, newsletters, and primary law on the following topics – Tax Law, Corporate Governance, Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions, International Business, Banking, Antitrust, Trade Regulation, Products Liability, Intellectual Property, Federal Energy Guidelines, Transportation Law.
  • Fastcase:  a user-friendly, full-text legal database that offers access to federal and state case law, statutes, regulations, constitutions, and court rules.
  • HeinOnline:  Contains an expanding collection of legal information including legal journals, U.S. Supreme Court Cases, Treaties/Agreements and more. HeinOnLine provides the scanned page images of legal journals so that the user can view the page as it originally appeared in hardcopy. HeinOnLine has the Oklahoma Law Review and the American Indian Law Review online. Coverage of the Oklahoma Law Review begins in 1948 and coverage of the American Indian Law Review begins in 1973. Remote access is available to students and faculty.
  • Law Journal Press:   Provides select legal treatises in PDF format.
  • LexisNexis Academic Universe:  Provides access to the full-text of all federal and state case law and statutes. In addition, LexisNexis contains regulatory law, legislative histories, law journals, and a wide range of news, business, legal, medical, and reference databases.
  • LexisNexis (Public Access):  Provides public access to the LexisNexis legal database which includes full-text access to all federal and state case law, statutes, and regulations. Patrons must use one of the three terminals located within the Law Library near the Reference Desk. There is no charge to access this service. However, there is a fee to print documents. Please contact a Reference Librarian for additional details.
  • LexisNexis for Law Students and Faculty:  Contains all U.S. federal and state primary law sources, legal journals, newspapers, public records, and over 1,000 legal treatises.
  • Loislaw:  Provides access to legal treatises and primary law from Wolters Kluwer.
  • OU Databases by Subject (Formerly LORA):  The University of Oklahoma Libraries provide access to databases, E-Journals and other resources through Library Online Resource Access. LORA currently provides university-wide access to over 14,000 resources.
  • Westlaw (Public Access) - The Law Library provides public access to the Westlaw legal databases. Westlaw includes full-text access to all federal and state case law, statutes, and regulations. It also includes legal forms, encyclopedias, and more. Patrons must use one of the three terminals located within the Law Library near the Reference Desk. There is no charge to access this service. However, there is a fee to print documents. Please contact a Reference Librarian for additional details.
  • Westlaw for Law Students and Faculty:  Contains all U.S. federal and state primary law sources, legal journals, newspapers, public records, and over 2,000 legal treatises.

 

Law Journal Databases

  • ABA Law Journal Search Engine - Search law reviews which are freely available on the Internet.
  • bepress Digital Commons Law Journals - Provides readers access to law-related journals published through bepress' Digital Commons service.  Browse journals by title or search by keyword within a journal or across all journals.  PDFs of articles are freely available for download.
  • Foreign and International Law Resources (HeinOnline) - Provides access to international yearbooks and serials, U.S. law digests, international tribunals and judicial decisions, as well as other major works related to foreign and international law. Full text available.
  • Google Scholar - is a mechanism for locating books and journal articles available at OU using the simple Google interface.
  • HeinOnline - is an expanding collection of legal information including legal journals, U.S. Supreme Court Cases, Treaties/Agreements and more. HeinOnLine provides the scanned page images of legal journals so that the user can view the page as it originally appeared in hardcopy. HeinOnLine has the Oklahoma Law Review and the American Indian Law Review online. Coverage of the Oklahoma Law Review begins in 1948 and coverage of the American Indian Law Review begins in 1973. Remote access is available to students and faculty.
  • JSTOR - Digitized archives of the backfiles of selected scholarly journals. Disciplines covered: African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, General Science, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology, Statistics. (Full text)
  • Legal Blawg Archive - Freely accessible archive of legal blawgs collected by the Law Library of Congress. The collection goes back to 2077 and can be searched by keyword or browsed by subject, name, or title.
  • LegalTrac (1980 - present) - Indexes legal publications, major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals, and legal newspapers on Federal and State Cases, Laws and Government Regulations, Legal Practice, and legal subjects such as Taxation and International Law.
  • Oxford Journals Online - Indexes journals published by the Oxford University Press, including subjects in the sciences, law, social science, arts and humanities. Full text available.
  • Social Science Research Network (SSRN) - The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 97,000 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and an Electronic Paper Collection currently containing over 70,200 downloadable full text documents in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.

 

Legal News Databases

  • Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), Inc. - BNA is the foremost publisher of print and electronic news, analysis, and reference products, providing intensive coverage of legal and regulatory developments for professionals in business and government. Decision-makers in many fields turn to BNA for detailed, up-to-the-minute news and information on the ever-shifting landscape of laws and regulations that influence business decisions.
  • The Daily Oklahoman Archives - Provides full-text articles from 1997 to the present. Also there is a related database entitled The Oklahoman Archives (1/1/1901 - present).
  • LegalTrac (1980 - present) - Indexes legal publications: major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals, and legal newspapers on Federal and State Cases, Laws and Government Regulations, Legal Practice, and legal subjects such as Taxation and International Law.
  • Newsbank Newsfile Collection (FirstSearch) (1991 - present) Full text coverage of current issues and events from over 500 U.S. and Canadian newspapers and wire services.
  • Newspaper Source (FirstSearch) (1994 - present) Indexes and abstracts over 170 newspapers and related sources, including the full text for nearly 140 regional U.S. newspapers, eighteen international newspapers, six newswires, nine newspaper columns, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Los Angeles Times.

 

Federal and State Government Databases

  • Congress and the Courts (HeinOnline) - Provides access to relevant sources relating to the composition and structire of Article III Courts, as well as documents prepared by various Congresses relating to the purpose, formation, organization, and restructuring of the federal government. Features William H. Manz's Congress and the Courts: A Legislative History 1787-2010, and also includes Federal Judicial Center Publications, links to various scholarly articles, CFT Title 28 (Judicial Administration), and other related works (Full text).
  • eCapitol (Oklahoma) - (formerly Legislative Information Network) Contains bill information, full-text of bills, voting analysis, news reports, calendar information, and more (Request password from reference desk).
  • FDsys.gov - contains federal case law, statutes, and regulations. This web site is produced by the U.S. government.
  • The Journal Record - Legislative Report - Legislative news, information, and bill tracking for Oklahoma.
  • Oklahoma Digital Prairie : Documents, Images and Information - consists of selected digital collections of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries spanning more than 100 years of rich, vibrant history. Provides access to thousands of state government publications, documents, and state agency forms.
  • Oklahoma Legislature - contains full-text of bills and information about the Oklahoma Legislature.
  • Oklahoma State Court Network (OSCN) - contains the full-text of Oklahoma cases, statutes, and court information.
  • PACER - The PACER Service Center is the Federal Judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate court records.
  • ProQuest Congressional - Access to U.S. legislative information. Index of congressional publications from 1970 to the present; Legislative Histories for public laws going back to 1970; Testimony from congressional hearings; Track bills; Search the Congressional Record and Federal Register; Locate information about members and committees; Search the National Journal (some information/articles available full text)
  • ProQuest Statistical Insight - Access to statistical information from Congressional Information Service including American Statistics Index (ASI), Statistical Reference Index (SRI), Index to International Statistics (IIS) (some information/articles available full text)
  • Session Laws Library (HeinOnline) - Contains searchable PDF images of session laws from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, as well as the U.S. Statutes at Large, and the Acts of Parliament of Canada, Australia, and the Bahamas. (Full text)
  • Subject Compilations of State Laws (HeinOnline) - References thousands of articles, books, government documents, loose-leaf services, court opinions and Internet sites that compare state laws on hundreds of subjects. Coverage begins with 1960 and extends to the present.

 

Subject-Specific Databases

  • American Indian Law Collection (HeinOnline) - Provides full-text access to over 800 primary and secondary titles relating to American Indian law.  This collection includes treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, and tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence.  This library also features rare compilations edited by Felix S. Cohen.
  • CCH Intelliconnect - Contains the full-text of treatises, journals, newsletters, and primary law on the following topics – Tax Law, Corporate Governance, Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions, International Business, Banking, Antitrust, Trade Regulation, Products Liability, Intellectual Property, Federal Energy Guidelines, Transportation Law.
  • Library Literature (FirstSearch) (1984 - present) Index to library and information science periodicals, books, conference proceedings, theses and book reviews.
  • Taxation & Economic Reform in America : A Historical Archive, 1781-2009 (HeinOnline) - Contains searchable PDF images of tax regulations, laws, and lefislative histories dating back to the late 1700s. Includes the 146 volume Carlton Fox Collection of documentary materials for Federal tax research (1909-1950). (Full text)
  • RIA Checkpoint - a comprehensive tax research system. Here you can find the full-text of tax codes, regulations, IRS rulings, etc. Checkpoint also includes the Federal Tax Coordinator service which provides in-depth editorial analysis of tax laws.
  • Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Digital Library - Complete text of the proceedings of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation's Annual Institutes (from 1955) and Special Institutes (from 1970). Includes hundreds of scholarly and practical articles on oil and gas, mining, water, environmental, public lands, finance and tax, and landmen's issues. Full text available.

 

International Law Databases

  • Foreign Law Guide - An indispensable resource that is designed to locate primary sources of legislation for foreign jurisdictions. For each country there is a brief introduction to the legal system, a list of codifications, gazettes and other sources of law and then a section listing sources of law by subject.
  • Foreign and International Law Resources (HeinOnline) - Provides access to international yearbooks and serials, U.S. law digests, international tribunals and judicial decisions, as well as other major works related to foreign and international law. Full text available.
  • International Law of Domestic Courts (ILDC) - International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) brings you the most important international law issues being decided in domestic courts around the world today. With legal experts in the field reporting on cases from over sixty-five jurisdictions, this online service highlights the full range of jurisprudence around the globe in a format that makes it easy to pinpoint specific legal issues and to compare how these issues have been dealt with in different jurisdictions.
  • JustCite from Justis - JustCite is a web-based legal search engine and citator from Justis Publishing Ltd. Focusing on case law and legislation, it is a provider-neutral service that links to content from a range of publishers and includes extensive links to full-text material from online services such as BAILII, Casetrack, Informa Law, Justis, LexisNexis and WestLaw. No login is required.
  • Justis - Justis provides searchable and browsable access to International Law Reports--the only publication in the world wholly devoted to the regular and systematic reporting in English of decisions of international courts and arbitrators as well as judgments of national courts. No login is required.
  • Treaties and Agreements Library (HeinOnline) - A comprehensive and searchable collection of treaties for which the United States has been a party. Includes PDF images of all currently in-force treaties, expired treaties, as well as those not yet officially published. (Full text)
  • Treaties and International Agreements Online (Oceana) - Contains current, comprehensive and accurate full text versions of over 13,000 treaties and international agreements. Includes all treaties and international agreements ratified by the United States, major treaties in the process of ratification, and all tax treaties, even those to which the United States is not a party.
  • World Constitutions Illustrated (HeinOnline) - Contains current constitutions in their original language for over 190 countries. It also features historical constitutions and secondary resources, including more than 800 books about constitutional law, links to scholarly articles about constitutional development, and links to online sources (Full text).
  • World Trials (HeinOnline) - HeinOnline’s World Trials Collection provides access to transcripts and monographs from major trials of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Full text available. Including such famous and important works as John Lawson’s “American State Trials”, “Howell’s State Trials”, “Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals”, “Reports of State Trials” and “Sixty Famous Cases”, HeinOnline’s World Trials Collection delivers previously hard-to-obtain archive content to the desktops of researchers worldwide.
  • United Nations Treaty Collection - includes (1) all multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary- General of the United Nations and those formerly deposited with the League of Nations - their latest status and a link to the full texts and (2) bilateral and multilateral treaties registered with and published by the United Nations Secretariat in accordance with Article 102 up to a certain date - Detailed treaty references and full texts in all authentic language(s).

 

Legal History and Books Databases

  • Books in Print - Indexes In-print, out of print, and forthcoming books from over 44,000 North American publishers. Some entries contain full text book reviews.
  • ebrary - A digital library of over 70,000 full-text e-books covering a wide range of subject areas, including law.  It is possible to browse for e-books by subject and to search by keyword.  Additional features include the ability to highlight text, make notes, and print, copy or download portions of e-books when using a free personal account. 
  • FirstSearch and databases are provided by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. A statewide site license has been purchased which provides access to these databases for students, faculty and the public who are within the Law Center/Law Library. For more information about access at your local library, visit the Oklahoma Department of Libraries.
  • Legal Classics Library (HeinOnline) - Contains searchable PDF images of important historical legal works. While the focus is on American law, the collection also includes many early British and Commonwealth titles. (Full text)
  • Legislative Insight (ProQuest) - Contains fully searchable PDF images of full-text publications generated in the course of congressional lawmaking. Content includes the Public Law text, all versions of enacted and related bills, Congressional Record excerpts, and committee hearings, reports and documents. (Full text)
  • LLMC Digital - Provides full text access to documents related to the U.S. Federal Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches.
  • Making of Modern Law - This archive, from one of the most important periods of legal development, is the world's most comprehensive full-text collection of Anglo-American legal treatises anywhere. It allows for full text searching of more than 21,000 works from casebooks, local practice manuals, form books, works for lay readers, pamphlets, letters, speeches and more - all separated into 99 subject areas.

 

Video Libraries

  • Courtroom View Network - a library of actual courtroom footages arranged into specific stages of a trials. Allows faculty and students to easily view samples of opening statements, closing statements, presentation of evidence, use of technology in the courtroom and much more.
  • Law Library Video Collection - The Law Library's collection of law-related films on DVD and VHS.

If you have any questions about these services, please contact the library at (405) 325-4311 and ask to speak with a librarian.