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| Massachusetts Primary Law |
The State Library has a comprehensive collection of Massachusetts statutory law, case law, and administrative law.
Statutory Law
Statutory Laws, those passed by the state legislature, are published in two formats:
Acts and Resolves: A yearly compilation of session laws. The library has the full run of this series, starting in 1663, with early years in Special Collections. Session laws are available online on the library's site from 1960 to 1996 and on the Massachusetts General Court's site from 1997 to date.
General Laws of Massachusetts (Code): A collection of all enacted legislation still in effect, organized by topic. The Library has both the official code and privately published annotated versions. In addition to the most recent edition, the collection includes some outdated codes for historical research. Resolves and Special Acts, because they are limited in scope, are not included in the codes. An unofficial copy of the General Laws is available on the Massachusetts General Court's site.
Note: Earlier versions of the statutes (before 1900) were also known as General Statutes or Public Statutes. The library has these earlier statutes as well.
Related Resources and Finding Aids in Our Collection
Guide to Massachusetts General and Special Acts: Published yearly, includes a subject index to both General and Special Acts. As Special Acts are not included in the codified general laws, this is the only paper source providing subject access to this kind of legislation.
House and Senate Journals: A chronological record of the business of each branch for every legislative day during a session of the General Court. The library has the full run of these journals, which dates back to the 1700's. Early years are in Special Collections. Several years of Journals are available on the Massachusetts General Court's site.
Legislative Documents: A compilation of all documents filed with the House or Senate Clerk. Published yearly, the documents include copies of bills, committee reports and communications from the governor.
Bulletin of Committee Work: The last section of these volumes contains a short description of session laws, with corresponding bill numbers. This information is important when compiling a legislative history.
Copies of House and Senate bills: Proposed legislation in slip form.
Case Law
Case Law emanates from the courts as they issue rulings in cases from both the Appellate level and the Lower courts. Decisions from the courts mentioned below are also available in electronic form through Loislaw, available to all onsite at the State Library and to state employees remotely.
Massachusetts Appellate Courts
Massachusetts Reports: Decisions by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court (1804 to date).
Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports: Decisions by the Massachusetts Appeals Court (the state's intermediate appellate court), from 1978 to date.
Lower Courts
Certain lower courts, whose decisions lack precedential value, do issue written decisions. The library has the following sources:
Massachusetts Appellate Division Reports: Includes decisions from the Massachusetts District Court Appellate Divisions and the Boston Municipal Court (1936 to date).
Massachusetts Law Reporter: Decisions from the Massachusetts Superior Courts from September 1993 to date
Finding Aids
Massachusetts Digest and Massachusetts Digest 2d.: a comprehensive index to all Massachusetts cases and federal cases arising in the Commonwealth. Includes Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions, 1761 to date and Massachusetts Appeals Court decisions (1972, inception of the court, to date).
Shepard's Massachusetts Citations: Used to retrieve comprehensive lists of cases and other sources that have cited a particular Massachusetts case or statute.
Administrative Law
Administrative Laws are those emanating from executive branch agencies either through regulations issued or through administrative agency decisions.
Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR): The State Library maintains a complete set of current and historical Massachusetts regulations. These regulations are arranged by agency, with many of them available online. The Trial Court Law Libraries web site has a listing of those available online. The full CMR is also available in electronic form through Loislaw, available to all onsite at the State Library and to state employees remotely.
Administrative Agency Decisions: The State Library of Massachusetts attempts to collect all Executive Branch agency decisions in either print or electronic format. Refer to the Library's online catalog under the name of the issuing agency.
Opinions of the Attorney General: The Attorney General issues formal legal opinions to state officers, agencies and departments on matters relating to their official duties. The library has the entire run of Attorney General Opinions. |
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| Massachusetts Secondary Sources |
The State Library's law collection is maintained to support the research needs of state government. For this reason, the law collection focuses on public law issues rather than the law of private practice.
The library collects standard treatises, such as Massachusetts Practice Series, Massachusetts Jurisprudence and selected Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education titles. Such materials are included in the library's online catalog. The library collects most major university law reviews and offers access to index sources for law reviews. |
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| Other States - Primary Law |
The State Library no longer actively collects the statutory codes, session laws and highest court opinions of all states in hardcopy (paper) format; the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are not represented in this collection. The library does not collect administrative codes of other states.
Loislaw provides access to these materials (available to all onsite at the State Library and to state employees remotely). Most states have mounted their statutory codes on their web sites. The National Conference of State Legislatures' web site has compiled a list of these web sites. |
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| Other States - Secondary Sources |
| The State Library does not collect practice materials from other states. |
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| Federal Primary Law |
Statutory Law
U.S. Code: The United States Code is the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. The library has editions from 1946 to date. The 1994 through 2000 editions (plus supplements) are also available online.
Congressional Record: Official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. The library has the Congressional Record from 1873-74 (43 rd Congress) to date. Available online from 1994 to date.
Congressional Hearings: The library has hearings on microfiche from 1959 (86 th Congress) to date.
Administrative Law
Federal Register: Published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. The library had the federal register from 1990 on, with older editions on microfilm. The online version is available from 1994 to date.
Code of Federal Regulations: The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The library carries the last three years the CFR. Online version dates back to 1996.
Case Law
Decisions from the courts mentioned below are also available in electronic form through Loislaw, available to all onsite at the State Library and to state employees remotely.
Federal Reporter: Collection of cases decided by the Federal Courts of Appeals.
Northeastern Reporter: Collection of cases argued and determined in state courts of Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio.
Supreme Court Reporter: Collection of US Supreme Court Decisions.
Shepard's Northeastern Reporter Citations: Used to retrieve comprehensive lists of cases and other sources that have cited a case found in the Northeast Reporter. |
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