Skip to Main Content

Constitutional Law: Secondary Sources

Resources Available at LaValley Law Library relating to the area of Constitutional Law

Dictionaries / Encyclopedias

Black's Law Dictionary (Westlaw Edge - need logon)

Black's Law is the most widely used law dictionary in the United States. It was founded by Henry Campbell Black. It is the reference of choice for terms in legal briefs and court opinions and has been cited as a secondary legal authority in many U.S. Supreme Court cases.


American Jurisprudence 2d (AMJUR) (Westlaw Edge - Need logon)
American Jurisprudence 2d (AMJUR) (Lexis Advance - Need logon)

Comprehensive legal encyclopedia contains textual statements of law alphabetically arranged in more than 400 topics. A to Z text statement of American Law, both state and federal. The articles collect, examine, and summarize the broad principles of American law and, at the same time, provide direct leads to supporting cases, related annotations, forms, proofs, and trial techniques. 


American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts (Westlaw Edge - need login)

Written by well-known judges, attorneys and experts in technical, scientific and medical fields. Explains how to determine quickly and confidently the facts essential to winning a case, and how to prove them for a wide range of civil litigation and selected criminal defense topics, including: personal injury/torts, employment litigation (discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination), real estate litigation, business torts, and commercial litigation. Also highlights which cases to avoid due to difficulties or failures in proof. Includes strategies and aids that cover every stage of trial preparation.


American Law Reports (ALR) (Westlaw Edge - need login)
American Law Reports (ALR) (Lexis Advance - need login)

The ALR database contains the full text of the annotations included in the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Federal, Federal Second, and Federal Third Series of the American Law Reports (ALR), all published by West, a Thomson Reuters business.


Corpus Juris Secundum (Westlaw Edge - need login)

A national legal encyclopedia, covers state and federal legal topics from A to Z. General rules of law are summarized in blackletter law headings and expanded upon in the text. The book also provides the limitations and exceptions to the rules where appropriate. The citations and the supporting cases involve both state and federal courts, allowing the user gets a full perspective of the law in a local jurisdiction as well as across the country.


Ohio Jurisprudence 3d (Westlaw Edge - need login)

A current and comprehensive encyclopedia of Ohio law, containing an analytical treatment of all law established in Ohio courts and by acts of the legislature.

LexisAdvance Secondary Sources

Constitutional Rights of Prisoners, Ninth Edition-ETTOC 

Constitutional Rights of Prisoners details critical information on all aspects of prison litigation, including information on trial and appeal, conditions of isolated confinement, access to the courts, parole, right to medical aid, and liabilities of prison officials. Highlighted topics include application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to prisons, protection given to HIV-positive inmates, and actions of the Supreme Court and Congress to stem the flow of prison litigation.


Criminal Constitutional Law

This wide-ranging treatise examines all the complex constitutional issues involved in criminal law. Criminal Constitutional Law provides substantive discussion, as well as procedural guidelines on tactics and strategy. The treatise analyzes all important Supreme Court, federal and state decisions interpreting Constitution provisions. Procedures mandated by the constitution for police, the courts, the prosecution and the defense at each stage of the criminal process are thoroughly scrutinized, with discussions of: * Prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures, including "good faith" exceptions * Protection against compulsive self-incrimination and compelled testimony Prohibition against excessive bail * Obligations of due process and equal protection * Right to counsel, right to a jury trial, and rights of appeal First published in 1990.


Exculpatory Evidence: The Accused`s Constitutional Right to Introduce Favorable Evidence

Exculpatory Evidence: The Accused`s Constitutional Right to Introduce Favorable Evidence offers a comprehensive study of the evolution of case law defining the scope of the constitutional right to present exculpatory evidence, which has been used to override virtually every type of evidentiary exclusionary rule. The authors point out incisive constitutional arguments and effective trial defense strategies to foil evidentiary privileges and put the prosecution on guard. Don't rely on the exclusion of prosecution evidence to earn an acquittal. Your client's future depends on your ability to present the best possible defense. That means offering all the favorable evidence you can - even evidence that is technically inadmissible under exclusionary rules or privileges.


Gaming Law & Practice

Today, there are over 500 commercial casinos, as well as card rooms, racinos and race tracks spread throughout the United States, as well as almost 500 Indian casinos operated by approximately 240 tribes, together generating approximately $70 billion in revenue annually. Recently, state legislators have recognized that legalized gambling provides an avenue for significant revenue generation for state and local government as well as increased capital investment and employment opportunities. Gaming Law & Practice addresses the framework of legalized gambling in the United States today, with specific chapters on Nevada and Michigan which offer differing approaches to the regulation of gaming.

 

Westlaw Edge Secondary Resources

Cable Television & Other Nonbroadcast Video

Cable Television and Other Nonbroadcast Video provides clear, in-depth analysis and commentary on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations, Telecommunications Act of 1996, and Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. It includes examination and discussion of emerging regulatory patterns for all areas of non-broadcast media. The text covers in-depth analysis of program content regulation and constitutional and statutory issues, as well as details all aspects affecting cable system ownership and operations to save research time.


Constitutional Law Deskbook

Constitutional Law Deskbook includes coverage of First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendment cases, as well as Equal Protection, privacy and general principles and terms.


Constitutional Rights of the Accused

Constitutional Rights of the Accused is a multi-volume set covering the federal constitutional rights of persons accused or convicted of a crime.


Firearms Law Deskbook

Firearms Law Deskbook helps prosecutors and defense attorneys identify various firearms offenses based on caselaw and unpublished agency decisions.


The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech

This publication provides both non-attorneys (law students, clients, academics) and attorneys with a focused and coherent review of the evolution of free speech rights in the United States. The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech makes common First Amendment principles such as prior restraint, overbreadth, vagueness, fighting words, public forum, etc., easy to understand through plain-English explanation of the concepts and fact-specific descriptions of the Supreme Court rulings establishing them.

In addition to a review of free speech protections, The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech contains chapters on the various categories of unprotected speech, the special rules related to commercial speech, pornographic speech, public employee speech and student speech, as well as a chapter on how the First Amendment impacts tort law in the United States.


Hate Crimes Law

Comprehensive overview of hate crimes law, including recent court opinions and statutory developments.


Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

This text focuses exclusively on ineffective assistance claims, including state and federal constitutional standards for ineffectiveness.


Modern Constitutional Law

The treatise covers an expansive range of topics, and is designed to make constituitonal doctrine accessible to lawyers and non-lawyers. Updated by the author, William J. Rich, it includes in-depth analysis of: Constitutional litigation, The Bill of Rights, Speech, association, and religion, Liberty and equality, Separation of powers, Federalism, Full faith and credit, Civil justice, Criminal justice, Military justice, Juvenile law, Native American law, and much more.


Rights of Prisoners 

Topics covered include freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, due process, prison censorship, religious and racial discrimination, special concerns of women prisoners, medical care, rehabilitation, parole, and remedies and procedures for challenging conditions of confinement.