Duke Community
Supporting interdisciplinary research of law and policy.
Whether you need to find the law as it stands or researching legal history, Goodson Law Library has a range of legal research resources to support your academia. Reference librarians can advise on resources and best practices. Email your questions to ref@law.duke.edu.
Researching the Law
It is best to start your research in a secondary source, which is a book, article, or guide that explains the background and context of the law and leads to primary legal authority. Review the Library's research guides to see if there is one on your topic. HeinOnline provides access to thousands of law review articles and treatises.
Fastcase and Nexis Uni both provide access to primary law from the federal system and all 50 states, including case law, statutes, and regulations.
Historical Legal Research
HeinOnline has a collection of primary sources focusing on retrospective historical coverage unavailable in other digital databases, including prestatehood legal materials. The Making of Modern Law databases contain historical treatises, trials, and Supreme Court records and briefs.
International and Foreign Legal Research
International and Foreign law is easiest accessible through research guides, such as those available through Globalex, or library resources such as the Foreign Law Guide. We subscribe to a variety of foreign law databases as well.
Other Legal Research
Kluwer Arbitration provides access to secondary sources and primary documents related to international commercial and investment arbitration. For Tax research, the Library provides access to Checkpoint and Tax Analyst (Current members of the Duke University community may register with their duke.edu email address for access).