Case Law - Legal Research on the Web
Note: If the case can not be found in the following databases, the case may possibly be obtained via the court docket or webpage. See Courts & Dockets.
State & Federal
Federal: U.S. Supreme, Appellate, District Court
Ohio
All States
State and Federal Databases:
LexisNexis Academic - Select court from "Select Sources" pulldown menu, OR From the Sources tab>Select the region you want to search, and click on the file that says "Cases" . Available in the law library to the public. Available remotely with a CSU ID and Scholar PIN.
Casemaker: Case law for 50 states, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, recent federal appellate, district court and bankruptcy opinions. Available at the public access terminals in the law library, or remotely with a Casemaker username and password.
Google Scholar - FREE and accessible on the Internet. Select radio button for all legal opinions and journals, federal cases or particular states. As of 11/2009, coverage is: US state appellate and supreme court cases since 1950, US federal district, appellate, tax and bankruptcy courts since 1923 and US Supreme Court cases since 1791. Basic Google search capability - all these words, exact phrase, some of these words, without the words.
Selected Internet Federal Case Law Sites:
United States Supreme Court Opinions :
- U.S. Supreme Court's web site (2000-)
- All decisions on: The Public Library of Law ; Justia ; PreCYdent
- Open Jurist (1810-)
- Altlaw: (1759-) (site will go away early 2010)
- Google Scholar (1791-)
- LexisOne (1781-).
- FindLaw's Supreme Court Opinions (1893-)
- Cornell's Legal Information Institute: Supreme Court Collection - 1990 to date
- Cornell's selected historical opinions - LII Collection of Historic Decisions.
- FindACase - from Versuslaw. (1886-) Case name and opinion text provided, but citation of the case and docket number are not. One could obtain the citation by finding the case cited within another case. Or, the citation will be provided for a $2.95 fee. You must provide your zip code and enter a CAPTCHA character string to do a search.
- Where to obtain U.S. Supreme Court Opinions - a document of all the published print and electronic sources for the court's opinions.
- FedWorld FLITE database of opinions from 1937 - 1975
- The Supreme Court Database - Provides links for Supreme Court opinions from 1953-2008. Has an easy pulldown menu and check box search capability to find cases on particular topics. Useful for scholarly and empirical research on the Supreme Court.
Federal Circuit Court Cases:
- Open Jurist -1882 to present. Browse or search by Federal Reporter citation.
- Google Scholar (1923-)
- Appellate Decisions from 1950 to present on: The Public Library of Law ; Justia ; Altlaw (Altlaw will go away early 2010)
- Search all US Circuit Court of Appeals Decisions on the Internet via LII
- FindLaw links to federal appellate court opinions
- LexisOne provides access to federal case law for the past ten years.
- Appellate Decisions also available via: PreCYdent
- FindACase - from Versuslaw. Case name and opinion text provided, but citation of the case and docket number are not. One could obtain the citation by finding the case cited within another case. Or, the citation will be provided for a $2.95 fee. You must provide your zip code and enter a CAPTCHA character string to do a search. Coverage dates vary by circuit. See Content Directory
Federal District Court Cases
- Google Scholar (1923-)
- Justia Search for U.S. District Court Opinions - 2004-2008
- LexisOne provides access to federal case law for the past ten years.
- FindLaw - Links to district court opinions and web sites.
- FindACase - from Versuslaw. Case name and opinion text provided, but citation of the case and docket number are not. One could obtain the citation by finding the case cited within another case. Or, the citation will be provided for a $2.95 fee. You must provide your zip code and enter a CAPTCHA character string to do a search. Coverage dates vary by district. See Content Directory
Ohio Cases:
- Ohio case law (via LexisNexis Academic)
- Casemaker: Unreported decisions from 1981, Reported Ohio Supreme Court from 1894, Appellate Reports from 1934, Ohio Misc. from 1999. Available at the public access terminals in the law library, or with a Casemaker username and password.
- Google Scholar (1950-) Supreme Court and appellate court cases. Ohio unreported coverage appears to start in 2004.
- Ohio Supreme Court : The Court's web site. Opinions issued since 1992. Full text searchable.
- Consumer Law Opinions - Common Pleas & Appellate: See the Ohio Attorney General's Online Public Inspection File - OPIF. 1984-current.
- LLMC Digital - PDF copies of older Ohio opinions. Includes the standard Ohio State Reports, Ohio Appellate Reports, but includes reporters such as Disney's Cincinnati Cases, Gotshall's Reports and Tappan's Cleveland Cases which are not on Westlaw or Lexis. Accessible remotely by CSU Students and Faculty, accessible in the library to the public.
- Ohio Appellate Courts : Select specific district in pull-down menu at the Ohio Supreme Court web site (for recent decisions; years available vary.) Full text searchable.
- Eighth District Cases - 1990-2005
- Ohio Appellate Districts Map
- The Public Library of Law has Ohio appellate and Supreme Court cases from 1997.
- Eighth District (Cuyahoga County) Ohio Court of Appeals (Court Web site) or from the Ohio Supreme Court pull-down menu
- Common pleas court opinions: Some are available via the Ohio Supreme Court pull-down menu (select "Miscellaneous" as the source). The Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas posts some of its opinions on its web site. For other courts, opinions may be available via the courts' web pages or dockets. See Courts & Dockets
- FindACase - from Versuslaw. Case name and opinion text provided, but citation of the case and docket number are not. One could obtain the citation by finding the case cited within another case. Or, the citation will be provided for a $2.95 fee. You must provide your zip code and enter a CAPTCHA character string to do a search. Appellate decisions starting in 1950. See Content Directory
You may also want to try the following custom search engines: Ohio Primary Materials; Everything Ohio Law
Cases from All States:
- Google Scholar (1950-) High court and appellate court cases. Coverage for unreported cases may vary.
- American Law Sources Online (ALSO)
- Public Library of Law - state appellate and Supreme Court cases from 1997.
- FindLaw: State Resources
- LexisOne - case law for the past ten years.
- FindACase - from Versuslaw. Case name and opinion text provided, but citation of the case and docket number are not. One could obtain the citation by finding the case cited within another case. Or, the citation will be provided for a $2.95 fee. You must provide your zip code and enter a CAPTCHA character string to do a search. Coverage varies by jurisdiction. See Content Directory
links checked 8/7/2009 aeb