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Legal Research for Beginners

This guide is an accompaniment to the webinar: Legal Research for Beginners by Ellyssa Valenti Kroski presented to the American Library Association in May 2024.

Types of Laws

There are five different types of laws and all of these are considered primary authority.  They are:

  1. Constitutions
  2. Legislation
  3. Court opinions
  4. Regulations
  5. Administrative Decisions

Parallel Legal Systems

In addition to these different types of laws, there are two parallel legal systems in place in the United States:

  • Federal

and

  • State

and each have their own sets of laws.