Legal Reference Sources Subject Guide
Law and Legislation
9 resources available
- Restricted to WMU users 
- Open Access
This section includes several of the major sources of legal information including bills, laws, court cases, Executive rules and regulations, privacy rights and regulations, a major law journal index, tax law, and other basic legal information often requested by patrons.
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
JK 416 .A3 (Ref)
The major codification of administrative law at the federal level. Includes all the general and permanent rules first published in the Federal Register by the Executive Department and agencies of the federal government. There are also a CFR index and finding aids for the set.
All published versions of federal bills since the 103rd Congress (1993-1994). Updated daily.
Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Intepretation
Contains the text of the Constitution as well as annotations of Supreme Court cases through 2002. Supplements provide updates.
This U.S. federal government source includes all the Executive rules, proposed rules, and regulations published on a given day. The Unified Agenda (Semiannual Regulatory Agenda) is available as a separate database. Coverage: 1994-present. Updated daily.
History of Bills and Resolutions
A U.S. federal government database providing information about all bills and resolutions introduced in Congress. Cites specific issues, dates, and pages of the Congressional Record . Coverage: 1983-present. Updated daily.
The Privacy Act Issuances in this federal database include Compilations from 1995 forward. They contain descriptions of Federal agency systems of records maintained on individuals and rules agencies follow to assist individuals who request information about their records.
Provides access to information about the U S Congress, including: 1) publications from 1789-present (with some full text in the Historical Full Text file); 2) Congressional Information Service Legislative Histories for public laws from 1970-present; 3) testimony from congressional hearings; 4) access to bills; 5) the Congressional Record and Federal Register; and 6) information about members and committees. Also includes unpublished hearings from 1973 to 1979.
A database of laws enacted since the 104th Congress (1995-96). Prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), National Archives and Records Administration, each law is first published as a slip law and then later compiled into a volume of the Statutes at Large. The Public Laws database contains the text of each law enacted, and is updated irregularly as the publication of a slip law is authorized by the OFR.
RIA Checkpoint is a Web-based tax accounting and corporate finance research service. RIA Checkpoint requires the Firefox browser on Macs (does not work with Safari).
Off campus users may be asked to make a security exception in order to access this database.