Free Law!

Image from https://www.loc.gov/law/

The Digital Projects of the Law Library webpage created and maintained by the Library of Congress is an exciting source for free legal information. If you find yourself without a Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg Law login, this website will be your best friend.

We want to give special recognition to Jennifer Gonzalez, Legal Information Specialist at the Law Library of Congress and graduate of the UW's Law Librarianship program! She has been responsible for much of the digitization and management work behind this incredibly ambitious project.

Photo by Danielle Lewis

Already available!

• Reports for Congress by the Law Library of Congress: current and historical reports created by the Law Library of Congress. 
• Statutes at Large: 1789-1950 with more being uploaded as the Law Library of Congress digitizes the collection. 
• United States Treaties: historic treaties 1795-1949 are currently available more recent treaties are currently being digitized.
• American Indian Constitutions and Legal Materials: more than 400 American Indian legal documents, chargers, and constitutions dating back to the 19th century.
• Federal Register: full digitized copies of the Federal Register volumes 1-58 covering 1936-1993.
• Haiti: Legal Bibliography: they aim to provide full access to Haitian legal materials.
• Miranda v. Arizona: The Rights to Justice: resources related to the Miranda v. Arizona case.
• U.S. Code: the full United States Code with supplements 1925-1988.
• United States Reports: organized by volume, authoring justice, and major case topic, the digitized version of the official reports of the decisions for the Supreme Court includes all opinions in volumes 1-542, or years 1754-2004.

Image from The Law Library of Congress

For History Buffs!

• John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trial: digitized reports and transcripts of the court proceedings from John Adams's representation of eight British soldiers in 1770.
• Lincoln and the Law: digitized historic collection covering President Abraham Lincoln's time as a lawyer before election as president, his time as president, and his assassination.
• Piracy Trials: historical collection of piracy trials from around the world before 1900.
• World War I: Declarations of War from Around the Globe: the declarations of war and related government documents from more than 20 countries.

Coming Soon!

• Code of Federal Regulations: one of their ongoing projects. The Code of Federal Regulations  1938-1995 will be available online sometime in 2018.
• Hispanic Legal Documents (15th-18th Centuries): one of their future projects.
• National Transportation Safety Board Orders: another one of their future projects.

For more ideas on how to stay up to date on legal information and how to research legal topics for free online see our guides on Free Law Online and Staying Current.