| Below you will find a select list of legal resources, in print and other media, you may access at Middletown Thrall Library. Explore materials in each section by clicking on a link below. |
Administrative Law
The Code of Federal Regulations is in paper copy for the current year plus one. The CFR is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Resgister by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government. The Federal Register is published daily and contains presidential proclamations, executive orders and agency regulations, rules, and propposed rules.
Supreme Court Decisions are available in paper copy from 1789
forward. [This includes a combination of both official and unofficial
reporters i.e. court reports published by commercial or private
publishers. Unofficial reports are not distinguished from official
reports on grounds of varying quality or accuracy of reporting.]
The United States Code Annotated, published by West Publishing
Company, is available in print. The United States Code, produced by the
government, is available on CD.
The Constitution of the United States is available in print
from many sources in the library. The most current one volume edition
prepared by the Congressional Research Service of the Library of
Congress is entitled Constitution of the United States with Analysis and
Interpretation. The most important cases dealing with constitutional
questions decided by the Supreme Court are discussed in the analysis,
and citations to the cases are provided.
Legislative Information (Bills, Laws, Legislative History)
The United States Congressional Serial Set on fiche from 1985
forward (98th Congress) reproduces Senate and House Documents and
Reports. This material is of interest to researchers providing
background information by and for the Congress in its deliberations
relevant to legislation.
House/Senate Bills and Resolutions on fiche from 1993 forward
(103rd Congress) contains the text of bills and resolutions.
Both of these above named sources contain information that may
or may not lead to the enactment of Federal laws by the Congress. It is
important to remember that many bills never become law - a bill often
"dies in committee". Bills that are introduced but not passed during a
specific Congress do not carry over to the next Congress. They must be
submitted as new bills.
Current Slip Laws - If a bill becomes a law its first official
publication in print issued by the Government Printing Office is in the
form of a slip law, a pamphlet or single sheet depending upon the length
of the text. The library has current slip laws from 1996 forward (104th
Congress) with some earlier exceptions of major laws.
United States Statutes at Large - At the end of each session
of Congress these public slip laws are bound into the Statutes at Large
(a chronological arrangement based upon passage, not a subject
arrangement). The library has the Statutes in paper copy from 1984
forward (98th Congress).
United States Code - Approximately every six years public laws
are incorporated into a new edition of the United States Code. Public
laws in effect update the Code. The USC represents a rearrangement of
the laws passed chronologically by Congress into a subject or topic
order and the elimination of all repealed, superseded or expired laws.
The United States Code Annotated, available in print at
Thrall, is commercially published by the West Publishing Company. It
is updated with cumulative annual pocket parts and supplementary
pamphlets. It presents the identical wording and language of the
official Code but includes value added enhancements such as "Notes of
Decisions" (digest papagraphs, followed by citations to case law
interpreting provisions of the Code). "Historical and Revision Notes"
indicate earlier committee reports, public law numbers, and dates of
enactment. "Library References" cite appropriate sections of the Code
of Federal Regulations.
The United States Code Congressional and Administrative News,
also published by the West Publishing Company, is available at the
library from 1972 forward. This source includes the full text of all
public laws enacted during each session of Congress. It is issued in
monthly pamphlets. After each session of Congress the pamphlets are
reissued in bound volumes. This source is important in understanding
the legislative history of a public law. The Legislative History Table
in each volume is arranged by Public Law number, provides the citation
to the Statutes at Large, bill number, and citations to committee
reports, and dates of consideration and passage in the Congressional
Record.
The Daily Congressional Record and the Permanent Congressional
Record are available on fiche from 1992 forward (102nd Congress).
Some holdings also date from 1981 forward (97th Congress). The biweekly
Congressional Record Index provides in its cumulative "History of Bills
and Resolutions" section citations for tracking legislation and
compiling legislative histories. The Congressional Record is also a
primary source for the transcripts of debates and votes on pending
legislation.
How Our Laws Are Made, current edition by Charles W. Johnson
is an excellent print resource and is roughly comparable to the
Internet resource mentioned in Links to Law.
Case Law
Code
Constitution
Legal Process
The family of Leo Pfeffer, 1910-1993, honored Middletown Thrall
Library with the donation of his library. Mr. Pfeffer was a
highly regarded constitutional lawyer who argued cases before
the Supreme Court. He was on the staff of the American Jewish
Congress from 1945 to 1964 and became the director of its
Commission on Law and Social Action in 1957. After 1964, Mr.
Pfeffer continued to do legal work for the congress as special
counsel. Mr. Pfeffer taught at the New School, Mount Holyoke
College, Yeshiva University and Long Island University. His
library is rich in works on constitutional history, religious
liberty and the separation of church and state. It also
includes many critically acclaimed biographies.
Documents of American History, edited by Henry Steele Commager and Milton Cantor is a two volumne collection of official or quasi-official documents from the Age of Discovery to 1988. This set includes acts, charters, treaties and court decisions.
Senate of the Roman Republic is the collection of a series of addresses Senator Robert C. Byrd gave in 1993 on the constitutional history of separated and shared powers as shaped in the republic of ancient Rome. The addresses were given to rebut the line item veto legislation.
Slavery in the Courtroom is an annotated bibliography of American case law on slavery compiled by Paul Finkelman.
Paper resources available at the library include statistical documents
such as:
Black's Law Dictionary the most widely used of all law
dictionaries, includes a "guide to the Dictionary", legal
maxims, and a useful "Table of Abbreviations."
Directory of State Court Clerks & County Courthouses includes names, addresses, phone numbers for the Supreme Court, appellate court and trial court clerks, on a state-by-state basis. State judiciary websites, state offices of Vital Statistics, and a state-by-state guide to obtaining corporate fillings make up the rest of this book.
New York Jurisprudence 2nd is part of the online Westlaw Database. This legal encyclopedia is written in narrative form and arranged topically with citations to statutes, administrative law and cases.
The New York State Directory has the names of current judges and administrators as well as addresses and phone numbers for New York State courts, Office of Court Administration, and the New York State Law Department. It also has information on the Lawyers' Fund for Client Protection, New York State Board of Law Examiners, New York State Judicial Conduct Commission and other governmental and private sector legal sources.
The United States Government Manual has a directory published annually of the Judicial Branch of the federal government including the judges of Unites States Courts of Appeals.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law is a basic legal reference in print that contains 5000+ entries in 13 volumes covering historical and current terms, concepts, events, movements, cases, and significant persons. A dictionary of legal terms can be found in the last volume.
Treaties in Force -
A listing of treaties and other international agreements of the United
States currently in force. Divided into two parts including bilateral
and multilateral treaties arranged alphabetically by country and then by
subject.
Administrative Law
The Legislature often delegates "rule making powers" to the
state's administrative departments and agencies. The full text of
agency rules is published in the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York, commonly abbreviated to New
York Codes, Rules and Regulations.
The NYCRR is available online as part of the
library's Westlaw database subscription. In print we
have the entire NYCRR in the Reference Dept. - Building Code,
Energy Conservation Code, Fire Code, Fuel/Gas Code,
Mechanical Code, Property Maintenance Code, Plumbing
Code, and Residential Code of New York State.
Before a rule is published in the NYCRR certain prescribed
procedures must be followed. This is done through publication in the
weekly, official New York State Register. Here one can find proposed
rules, notices of state agencies, and rules adopted so recently that
they are not yet in the NYCRR. Thrall's holdings for the New York State
Register are from 1999 to the current year.
New York Court of Appeals Decisions (New York's highest court)
are available in print beginning in 1847 in volumes entitled New York
Reports. Commercial publication of Appellate decisions and some lower
court decisions began in 1888 by West in volumes entitled the New York
Supplement. The New York Supplement 2nd Series began in 1938. This
series continues today and incorporates Court of Appeals decisions,
decisions of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court,
and miscellaneous lower courts. Weekly paper pamphlets update the bound
volumes.
Digests are summaries of state and federal decisions arranged
by topic. Coverage of New York court cases begin with the earliest
decisions. Titles of the many digest volumes have themselves varied
over the years. The current digest series began in 1978 and is entitled
West's New York Digest 4th.
New York State Laws are rearranged by title or subject just as
they are in the United States Code. The codification of state law is
accomplished by West and is entitled McKinney's Consolidated Laws
of New York Annotated. Volumes are kept up to date at the library with
supplementary pamphlets and annual pocket parts.
The Constitution of the State of New York is available from
several sources at the library including the Legislative Manual of the
State of New York (1988-89) and as Book 2 in McKinney's Consolidated
Laws.
New York State publishes all the laws passed during each
session of its legislature in chronological order comparable to those in
the United States Statutes at Large. McKinney's Session Laws of New
York are kept current with paper pamphlets. The official volumes of
session laws, without the editorial enhancements of the West
publications, entitled Laws of the State of New York are published
annually and are available from 1988 forward.
Individual slip laws are not issued by NYS, but monthly pamphlets
containing more than one single law are issued to update the session laws.
Access to legislative history for state laws is difficult
because New York does not generally publish its debates, committee
reports, or transcripts of hearings. McKinney's Consolidated Laws of
New York Annotated should be consulted when compiling a legislative
history. Refer to headings such as "Historical and Statutory Notes,"
"Legislative Histories," "Library References," and "Notes of Decisions"
from relevant federal and state cases.
This page was last updated on February 11, 2006.
Case Law
Code
Constitution
Legislative Information - Laws, Legislative history