ALR and Legal Encyclopedias

American Law Reports (ALR), national legal encyclopedias, and state legal encyclopedias are useful sources when beginning legal research. They provide introductory overviews on legal topics, usually explaining the current state of the law, the development of the body of law, relevant legal principles, and citations to primary law such as statutes, cases, and regulations.

 ALR: American Law Reports (KF 132 4th floor, south)

Published since 1888, ALR contains countless articles on narrow topics of law. ALR articles, called annotations, provide background, analysis, and citations to relevant cases, statutes, law review articles, and other annotations.

ALR is published in series, two under its original title Lawyers Reports Annotated, and eight ALR series, one through six and two federal series. They are not jurisdiction specific. Within each annotation, there is a Table of Jurisdictions directing you to cases within specific states. (For the federal series, the Table of Jurisdictions directs you to cases within specific circuits.) All continue to be updated, though not on a regular schedule. Online versions include updates. When using the set in print form, check pocket parts for updates. ALR annotations can be superceded in entirety by later annotations. Online versions provide citations to superceding annotations. If using the set in print, check the History Table at the end of the ALR Index to verify that your annotation has not been superceded.

Find relevant annotations by using print indices or searching online. When using ALR online, it is most efficient to look for your terms in the titles of the annotations since their titles are specific, and reflective of content.

ALR Indexes: ALR Index, KF 132.2.I53 covers annotations written since 1948. ALR Quick Index, KF 132.6.A543 covers major annotations from ALR3d to present.
ALR on Westlaw contains ALR1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th and ALR Federal 1st and 2nd. To browse the ALR index on Westlaw, use the citation field search ci(index).

 National Legal Encyclopedias

There are two main legal encyclopedias in the U.S. They provide introductions to legal topics, explain relevant terms of art, and provide citations to primary law. National in scope, they tend to give broad summaries of legal topics and are not the best tool for jurisdiction-specific research. Most entries are fairly brief.

 CJS: Corpus Juris Secundum (KF 154.C56 4th floor, south)

This 152-volume set is arranged into approximately 400 topics. Articles within topics begin with a general rule of law and are followed by the exceptions and qualifications to that general rule.

CJS Index: Four volume general index, KF 154.C56. There are also individual indexes for each major topic.
CJS on Westlaw
CJS is not available on LexisNexis

 Am Jur 2d: American Jurisprudence 2d (KF 154.A42 4th floor, south)

Am Jur 2d articles summarize broad principles of U.S. law and provide citations to cases, statutes, rules, forms, and A.L.R. annotations.

Am Jur Index: Six volume general index, KF 154.A42. Topical indexes in the last volume of every topic.
Am Jur on Westlaw
Am Jur on LexisNexis

 State Legal Encyclopedias

State legal encyclopedias provide background and explanations of state legal topics and provide citations to primary law. Not every state has a legal encyclopedia. Depth of coverage and quality vary. State encyclopedia articles are updated irregularly. Remember to check pocket parts when using them in print.

 The Harvard Law School Library holds the following state legal encyclopedias:

These are in alphabetical order by state. All are located on the 3rd floor, north. Links are to HOLLIS Catalog records.

California Jurisprudence 3d, KFC 80.C29
Summary of California Law (Witkin), KFC 80.W5
Colorado Law Annotated 2d, KFC 1880.P76
Florida Jurisprudence 2d, KFF 80.F56
Georgia Jurisprudence, KFG 80.G45
Illinois Law and Practice, KFI 1265.I44x
Indiana Law Encyclopedia, KFI 3065.W44
Louisiana Civil Law Treatise, diff. calls, KFL 92 - 583
Maryland Law Encyclopedia, KFM 1265.W4x
Massachusetts Practice, KFM 2480.M3
Michigan Law and Practice Encyclopedia, KFM 4265.M63x
Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law, KFM 6665.E53x
Summary of Mississippi Law, KFM 6665.G7
New Hampshire Practice, KFN 1280.N48
New Jersey Practice, KFN 1880.N4
New York Jurisprudence 2d, KFN 5065.N48
Strong's North Carolina Index 4th, KFN 7445.6.S82
Ohio Jurisprudence 3d, KFO 65.O35
Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia, KFP 65.P46x
South Carolina Jurisprudence, KFS 1865.S68x
Tennessee Jurisprudence, KFT 65.T46
Texas Jurisprudence 3d, KFT 1265.T49
Michie's Jurisprudence of Virginia and West Virginia, KFV 2465.M52

 State Encyclopedias on Westlaw

The following list only includes encyclopedias that are comprehensive in scope. For many states, Westlaw offers a practice series that has selective coverage of state law, usually covering a few major topics and information useful to lititgators. These can be found by browsing the Westlaw Directory by State then Forms, Treatises, CLEs, and Other Practice Materials.

California Jurisprudence 3d
Summary of California Law
Florida Jurisprudence 2d
Georgia Jurisprudence
Illinois Law and Practice
Indiana Law Encyclopedia
Louisiana Civil Law Treatise
Maryland Law Encyclopedia
Massachusetts Practice
Michigan Civil Jurisprudence
New Jersey Practice
New York Jurisprudence 2d
Strong's North Carolina Index
Ohio Jurisprudence 3d
Summary of Pennsylvania Jurisprudence 2d
South Carolina Jurisprudence
Texas Jurisprudence 3d

 State Encyclopedias on LexisNexis

Summary of California Law
Florida Jurisprudence 2d
Illinois Jurisprudence
Michigan Law and Practice
Dunnell Minnesota Digest
New York Jurisprudence 2d
Ohio Jurisprudence 3d
Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia
Tennessee Jurisprudence
Texas Jurisprudence 3d
Michie's Jurisprudence of Virginia and West Virginia

Written by Deanna Barmakian.