Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

U.S. Primary Sources & Topical Reporters Guide

This guide serves to provide a list of primary legal sources & topical reporters. It includes catalog links for the print editions held at the Law Library and database links to the digital versions accessible to our Law Center members.

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U.S. Primary Legal Sources

Primary sources are laws, orders, decisions, rules or regulations issued by a governmental entity or official from one of the branches of government. The entity or official may be a court, legislature, executive agency, president or a state governor. Primary sources include constitutions, statutes, cases and regulations. This list of federal primary sources provides links to our catalog record for a publication's print edition and access to the publication's digital formats for our library patrons.

Federal Statutes & Public Laws

Publication Title Call Number of Print Digital Access for Georgetown Law
United States Code (U.S.C.) (official code) KF62 2012 .A2 Reading Room, Area 3 on map HeinOnline, Bloomberg Law, Westlaw (unannotated), Office of the Law Revision Counsel (including Popular Name Tool), GovInfo
United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) (unofficial code) KF62 1927 .A3 Reading Room, Area  4 on map Westlaw (including Index and Popular Name Table)
United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.) (unofficial code) KF62 1972 .U5 Reading Room, Area 5 on map Lexis (including Index and Popular Name Table)
United States Statutes at Large (Stat.) (official session laws) KF50 .U5 Reading Room, Area 8 on map Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, ProQuest Congressional, HeinOnline, LLMC Digital, GovInfo
United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.) (unofficial session laws) KF48 .U54 Reading Room, Area 7 on map Westlaw
Public Law (Pub. L.)   Congress.gov, GovInfo
Also printed in the United States Statutes at Large (Stat.)
Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the Congress (Cong. Rec.) KF35 .A26 Micro Media 1st Fl, Micro Row B, Cabinets 16-19 (1873-2003); KF35 .A26 Mezzanine (1873-2012) Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, ProQuest Congressional, HeinOnline, LLMC Digital, Congress.gov, GovInfo

Additional Resources for Statutes

For publication sources of state statutes, see our individual state research guides. For more on researching statutes, look at our Statutes Research Guide. For free or low cost alternatives to the Law Library's digital access to statutes, see our Free and Low Cost Legal Research Guide. Also, for publications of subject specific statutes, see our individual topical research guides.

Federal Case Law

Publication Title Call Number of Print Digital Access for Georgetown Law
United States Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Supreme Court (U.S.) KF101 .A2 Reading Room (cancelled in 2012), Area 6 on map HeinOnline, Supreme Court website, Caselaw Access Project
West's Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) KF101 .A32 Reading Room, Area 6 on map Westlaw, Caselaw Access Project
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition (L. Ed., L. Ed. 2d) KF101 .A312 Reading Room, Area 6 on map Lexis, Caselaw Access Project
The United States Law Week (U.S.L.W.) KF105 .U6 Reading Room (print publication ceased in Aug. 2018), Area 2 on map Bloomberg Law
West's Federal Reporter (F.3d, F.2d, F.) KF105 .F42 3d (cancelled in 2012), KF105 .F42 2d, KF105 .F4 Reading Room, Area 6 on map Westlaw, Caselaw Access Project (F.3d), Caselaw Access Project (F.2d), Caselaw Access Project (F.)
West's Federal Supplement, 2014- (F. Supp. 3d), West's Federal Supplement, 1988-2014 (F. Supp. 2d), Federal Supplement, 1933-1988 (F. Supp.) KF105 .F44 (F. Supp. 2d cancelled in 2012) Reading Room, Area 2 on map Westlaw, Caselaw Access Project (F. Supp. 3d), Caselaw Access Project (F. Supp. 2d), Caselaw Access Project (F. Supp. 1839-1998)
West's Federal Appendix (F. App'x) KF105 .F423 (cancelled in 2012) Reading Room Cases are reported in Westlaw's Court of Appeals content set, Caselaw Access Project
Federal Cases, 1789-1880 (F. Cas.) KF105 .F2 Reading Room, Area 6 on map HeinOnline, Caselaw Access Project
Federal Rules Service (Fed. R. Serv. 3d (West), Fed. R. Serv. 2d (Callaghan), Fed. R. Serv. (Callaghan)) KF8830 .F6 (cancelled in 2018) Stacks Cases, but not headnotes keyed to Federal Rules, are reported throughout Westlaw's federal case databases.
West's Federal Rules Decisions, 1988- ; Federal Rules Decisions, 1938-1988 (F.R.D.) KF8830 .F5 Closed Stacks South Westlaw, Caselaw Access Project

Additional Resources for Cases

See Special Courts & Topical Case Sources table for tax, bankruptcy, international trade, veterans appeals, military and other topical federal case reporters. For primary legal documents, e.g. court records and briefs, see Briefs, Oral Arguments and Other Court Documents Research Guide. For publications of state case law sources, see our individual state research guides. For more on researching case law, look at our Case Law Research Guide. For free or low cost alternatives to our databases, see our Free and Low Cost Legal Research Guide. Also, for more subject specific case reporters, see our individual topical research guides.

Federal Regulations

Publication Title Call Number of Print Digital Access for Georgetown Law
Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) K70 .A3, Current edition in Reading Room, Area 6 on map; superseded print vols. in Closed Stacks (see Circulation Desk)

K70 .A3 Micro Media 1st Fl, Row B, Cabinets 12-13 (1938-2004)
Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, ProQuest Regulatory Insight, HeinOnline, govinfo, e-CFR
Federal Register (F.R.) KF70 .A2 Micro Media 1st Fl, Row B, Cabinets 14-15 (1936-2004) Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law, ProQuest Regulatory Insight, HeinOnline, govinfo, FederalRegister.gov

Additional Resources for Regulations

For state regulations, see our individual state research guides. For more on researching regulations, look at our Administrative Law Research Guide. For free or low cost alternatives to our databases, see our Free and Low Cost Legal Research Guide. Also, for more subject specific regulations, see our individual topical research guides.

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Update History

et 04/23
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