Mississippi Legal Research

Book excerpt: Mississippi Legal Research guides readers through finding and using the various sources of Mississippi law. The first of its kind, it is designed to introduce law students to the process of legal research, but anyone who needs to research current and historical legal issues--practitioners, paralegals, librarians, college students, and other lay people--will find it useful. Sample pages and screen shots, interspersed throughout the text, help clarify complex ideas. Mississippi Legal Research succinctly explains the ways in which constitutions, statutes, legislative history, judicial opinions, administrative regulations, and municipal charters and ordinances are published, accessed, and verified, in print and digital formats. Additional chapters describe the research process, legal analysis, secondary sources of law, such as encyclopedias and treatises, and practitioner materials. The sources of federal law, other states' law, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are also highlighted. Print and online research strategies and techniques are integrated throughout the book. Important subscription services, including Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law, are thoroughly covered, but the many excellent free Web-based tools now available to legal researchers also receive special mention. This book is part of the Legal Research Series, edited by Suzanne E. Rowe, Director of Legal Research and Writing, University of Oregon School of Law.