LEGAL PERIODICALS GUIDE
Legal periodicals include academic law reviews, bar association journals,
commercial journals, legal newspapers and newsletters. Articles on
your research topic may be found through legal periodical indexes,
including the two major indexes, the Index to Legal Periodicals and
the Current Law Index, as well as several other sources which are
described in this guide. This guide provides information on how to
locate articles on your topic and the location of sources in the library.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Index to Legal Periodicals (1908-present)
2. Current Law Index (1980-present)
3. Current Index to Legal Periodicals
4. Shepard's Citations
5. Internet (LegalTrac and Wilson ILP)
6. Lexis and Westlaw
7. Foreign Legal Periodicals Indexes
(Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals, Szladits' Bibliography on Foreign
and Comparative Law, Index to Canadian Legal Periodical Literature)
8. Other Sources (Legal Newsletters in
Print, Index to Federal Tax Articles and CCH Federal Tax Articles,
Kindex, Criminal Justice Periodical Index)
The two major indexes are the Index to Legal Periodicals(1908-present)
and the Current Law Index(1980-present). These indexes appear in
print and online.
1. Index to Legal Periodicals.
The I.L.P. indexes articles by subject and author. The I.L.P.
also includes Tables of Cases and Statutes. Coverage begins in 1908
and includes references to articles from several hundred legal periodicals
and books published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain,
Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to 1983, the I.L.P. provided
complete references under the subject entries only. To find an article
by a certain author, you will need to check the cross-references
to subject entries under the author's name. The letter in parentheses
which appears after the subject entry under the author's name indicates
the first letter of the title of the article which is listed under
that subject entry.
Beginning in 1983, complete references to articles appear under
both subject and author. For help in identifying your subject, consult
(1) the Index to Legal Periodicals: Thesaurus(1988) which is shelved
with the volumes of the I.L.P. with the Reference Collection behind
the reference desk on the Sixth Floor of the library; (2) the subject
listing which appears in each annual volume; or (3) ask a Reference
Librarian for assistance. The ILP is located on the 6th floor in
the Reference Collection K33 .I54.
2. Current Law Index.
The C.L.I. indexes articles by subject and author/title. Complete
bibliographic references appear under both subject and author. The
C.L.I. also provides Tables of Cases and Statutes. Coverage begins
in 1980 and includes articles from several hundred legal periodicals
published in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Australia and New Zealand. To find citations on your topic look
under the subject entries. The C.L.I. provides detailed sub-headings
and cross-references to subjects. If you need help in locating the
appropriate subject headings for your research topic, ask a Reference
Librarian for assistance. The Current Law Index is located on the
6th floor in the Reference Collection K33 .C87.
3. Current Index to Legal Periodicals.
Articles which are too recent to be included in the I.L.P. or
the C.L.I. are listed in the weekly Current Index to Legal Periodicals
which indexes articles from nearly 300 law reviews. The C.I.L.P.
lists recently published articles under 90 subject headings. The
C.I.L.P. also lists the Table of Contents for the journals covered
each week. To find an article on your topic, scan the subject headings
and/or refer to the Table of Contents listings under the name of
the law review.
The C.I.L.P. is available on the Suffolk Law School Library web site: Click on Legal Databases.
4. Shepard's Citations.
You may find citations to law review articles when you use Shepard's
Citations to Shepardize a case or statute. For example, to find
law review articles which cite a state case, use that state's Shepard's
citator. [Shepard's regional citators exclude law reviews.] To find
law review articles which cite federal primary authority, use Shepard's
Federal Law Citations in Selected Law Reviews. To find citations
to law review articles, use Shepard's Law Review Citations where
you may find related articles and judicial decisions. Shepard's
Law Review Citations are located on the 6th floor in the Reading
Room. Shepard's research may be performed online on the 2 computers adjacent to the Reference Desk on the 6th floor of the Library.
5. Internet: LegalTrac and Wilson Index
to Legal Periodicals(ILP)
The Current Law Index is available online in the LegalTrac Database.
To access LegalTrac from the law library home page, select Legal Databases or do a title search for LegalTrac on the online catalog. LegalTrac includes
citations from several hundred legal and law-related periodicals,
including legal newspapers.
The Wilson Index to Legal Periodicals(ILP) includes citations
from over 500 journals and law reviews from 1981 to the present.
To access the ILP from the law library homepage, select Legal Databases and select the Wilson Index to Legal Periodicals.
6. Lexis and Westlaw
Lexis and Westlaw include both full-text articles and legal periodical indexes.
The Current Law Index and the Index to Legal Periodicals are available
on Lexis in SECONDARY LEGAL: ANNOTATIONS AND INDEXES and on Westlaw
in the LRI and ILP databases.
Lexis and Westlaw include selected full-text articles from many
legal periodicals. To find out whether a particular periodical is
included in Lexis or Westlaw, consult the Lexis Directory of Online
Services which is available in print or online in the SECONDARY-LEGAL:
Law Reviews & Journals; the Westlaw Database List which is available
in print or by searching Westlaw online, using the IDEN feature.
To search for articles from a particular periodical, select the
individual periodical in Lexis or the individual database in Westlaw.
To retrieve all full-text journal articles which are available in
Lexis and Westlaw, select LAW REVIEWS, COMBINED in Lexis and in
Westlaw, select the JLR database.
For articles not included in Lexis or Westlaw, search Hein Online. From the law library homepage, select Legal Databases to access Hein Online.
7. Foreign Legal Periodical
Indexes.
To locate references on international law subjects, consult the
following sources which are located on the Sixth Floor with the
reference materials.
The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (1960-present) [LAW REF
K33 .I38] indexes periodicals dealing with international law, comparative
law, and the municipal law of all countries except the United States,
the British Isles and the British Commonwealth, whose systems of
law have a Common Law basis. Access to articles is provided by author,
subject and geographic region or country. This Index is also available online from the law library homepage. Select Legal Databases to access the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. Coverage for the online version begins in 1985 and indexes over 500 legal periodicals.
Szladits' Bibliography on Foreign and Comparative Law [LAW REF
K38 .B53] provides access to books and articles on international
and comparative law published in English. Coverage of articles indexed
begins in 1790. Access is provided by author, subject, and geographic
region.
The Index to Canadian Legal Periodical Literature (1979-present)
[LAW REF KE8 .I5] indexes articles in Canadian legal periodicals,
articles in non-legal Canadian journals, and articles published
in topical law reports. Access to articles is provided by author
and subject. A Table of Cases is included.
8. Other Sources.
There are several other sources which may provide additional
references to articles on your research topic. The following paragraphs
describe a few of these sources.
Legal Newsletters in Print [LAW REF KF1 .L44] is published annually
and provides descriptions for over 1,000 newsletters. It is arranged
alphabetically by the title of the newsletter. A subject index provides
access to newsletters on particular legal topics. Legal Newsletters
in Print is located behind the Reference Desk on the Sixth Floor
of the Library with thereference materials.
Index to Federal Tax Articles [LAW TREATISES(FL5) KF6335 .A1 I64]
indexes articles from periodicals and other publications on all
subjects of taxation. It is updated with cumulative volumes and
quarterly supplements. Access is provided by author and subject.
CCH Federal Tax Articles [LAW TREATISES(FL 5) KF6335 .A6 C58]
is issued monthly and contains abstracts of tax articles published
in legal, accounting, tax and other periodicals. It is arranged
by section of the Internal Revenue Code.
Kindex [LAW REF K33 .K56] is an index to legal periodical articles
pertaining to children and the law. Access to articles is provided
by author, subject, Supreme Court decisions, states and countries.
Coverage begins in 1965. Kindex is located on the Sixth Floor of
the Library with the Reference Collection.
The Criminal Justice Periodical Index is published three times
a year and provides indexing for over 100 journals on subjects related
to criminal justice. A cumulative volume is issued annually. Coverage
begins in 1975. Access to articles is provided by author and subject.
The Criminal Justice Periodical Index is located on the 6th floor
of Library with the Reference Collection LAW REF Z5118 .C9 C74 HV
8138. You may access the electronic version through the online catalog. Search for the title Criminal Justice Periodical Index.
Last updated May 15, 2007.
Prepared and updated by Ellen V. Delaney, Reference Librarian
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