United States

Voices of American Law

Voices of American Law is a collection of teaching materials compiled by the Duke University School of Law. The aim of the project is to assist with the teaching of American constitutional law and the role of the Supreme Court. Legal materials relating to a number of important constitutional cases have been made freely available on the site including court documents, opinions, articles, interviews and photographs. Accompanying the documentation is a selection of videos featuring interviews with the parties, their lawyers and the judges who presided in the case.

United States Legal Resources

Substantial set of annotated links to US law websites, compiled by the University of Washington School of Law. Covers both state and federal law. The federal law links are divided into three broad categories: US laws, Legislation and Congress; US Court Opinions, Court Rules, Other Judicial Material and the Courts; US Rules, Regulations, Administrative Decisions, the President and Agencies.

United States Courts

Official site offering information about the US federal judiciary and the judicial process. Provides court forms and rules, a glossary of legal terms, court statistics and information about how to access court records. Educational resources on the site include a guide to the federal courts and an overview of the structure of the US judicial system. There is also a biographical directory of judges, a court locator facility and a news page.

USA.gov

USA.gov is the main portal to US federal, state and tribal government information on the web. It offers an A-Z of government departments (with links), a directory of web-based government services and contact details for all sorts of government bodies. The Explore Topics section includes a Public Safety and Law page with links to courts and legislatures and a Reference and General Government page with links to official publications, statistics, a glossary of federal government abbreviations, laws and other materials.

United States House of Representatives

The website of the US House of Representatives includes schedules of debates and committee hearings, information about votes and current bills and a directory of Representatives. The full text of current and older bills can be accessed via links to the Library of Congress’s Thomas website. The United States Code, which is produced by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House, is also available, together with links to individual public laws (1995 to date and 1789 to 1875).

FindLaw Cases and Codes

Findlaw is a US website owned by Thomson Reuters. Its Cases and Codes section provides free access to federal case law, the US Constitution and the US Code (a compilation of federal laws in force). State constitutions, state case law and some state codes are also available, together with materials such as bills and city ordinances. The case law files typically go back to the 1990s, but the US Supreme Court opinions go back to 1893.

Office of the Legal Adviser

This website outlines the work of the Office of the Legal Adviser and makes available US official publications and information about international law. The Treaty Affairs section provides the current edition of Treaties in Force; the Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) from 1996 to 2003; information about multilateral treaties deposited with the US Government; details of treaty actions; and a list of treaties pending in the Senate. The Digest of United States Practice in International Law is available from 1989/90 onwards.

Actual innocence and freestanding claims for relief

Online guide to the claim of actual innocence in US law written by Ken Strutin, who is Director of Legal Information Services at the New York State Defenders Association. The guide was published in November 2010 on LLRX.com. The author gives an introduction explaining the term ‘actual innocence ‘and how it has been used to contest wrongful convictions. There are abstracts of scholarly articles with links to the full text. Some of the articles linked to are available on subscription sites only. Links are also given to cases and relevant legislation.

Rules of warfare, arms control

The Rules of warfare, arms control page forms part of the Multilaterals Project at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. The project provides the text of international treaties and conventions covering various subjects. This section has the Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions and other texts dealing with the laws of war.

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