The following lists of free websites were compiled by Lynn Wishart, former Director of Cardozo School of Law Library.
FindLaw (lp.findlaw.com) includes all Supreme Court decisions, Courts of Appeals decisions since 1995, and links to District Court websites. State court decisions including New York Court of Appeals and Appellate Division decisions since January 1997 are available also. Cases on Findlaw can be browsed by year and U.S. Reports volume number, and can be searched by citation, docket number, judge name, case title or full text. It is unclear how frequently the database is updated. Findlaw also has searchable federal and state codes (and the NYC Administrative Code). There is no indication of currency for the codes.
Justia (law.justia.com) allows you to search or browse case law from the Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, and District Courts. The case law database is very current. Justia has a non-current version of the United States Code. Justia has the C.F.R., but there is no indication of how frequently it is updated. Free, daily summaries of federal and state court opinions are also available. The service, daily.justia.com, covers all federal circuit courts of appeals and select state supreme courts including the New York Court of Appeals. Also available are weekly digests grouped by practice area.
LII (Cornell) (www.law.cornell.edu) has all opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992 and over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance. LII also has over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. The U.S. Code is generated from the preliminary release (USC Prelim) on the US House of Representatives web (uscode.house.gov).
Court Listener (www.courtlistener.com) collects cases and makes them searchable by case name, judge’s name, and keywords with connectors and filters. Links are provided to citing cases. Coverage is not complete (no NY State cases), and a coverage chart is provided. Provides free daily email alerts of new federal appellate decisions containing the terms you specify; coverage includes circuit cases except for unreported/non-precedential opinions from the D.C. Circuit. Offers daily alert service.
Supreme Court Case Law Sources
|
Source |
Coverage |
|
1893- |
|
|
1791- |
|
|
1791- |
|
|
1992- |
|
|
1791- |
|
|
1991- |
Federal Appeals & District Court Case Law Sources
|
Source |
Scope |
Coverage |
|
Courts of Appeals |
1995- |
|
|
Courts of Appeals District Courts |
1923- 1923- |
|
|
Courts of Appeals District Courts |
1951- Various since 2000- |
|
|
Courts of Appeals |
1950- |
Most federal court websites provide New York Case Law Sources
|
Source |
Scope |
Coverage |
|
Selected trial court decisions |
Supreme Court, 1997- |
|
|
All appellate decisions |
1950- |
|
|
All appellate & selected trial court decisions |
2003- for most courts; earlier for some courts. |
|
|
Appellate decisions |
1955- |
|
|
Cases published in the official reporters from all appellate & selected trial courts |
1980- |
|
|
All appellate & selected trial court decisions |
2003- |
|
|
Court of Appeals Appellate Division |
1997- |
Case law of other states can be found on
