Online sources
Online sources in the One-L Dictionary
Two major online sources for legal materials are Westlaw and LexisNexis. The Internet is also becoming an increasingly important source for legal information although it can present additional problems of accuracy and currency. Many other commercial (fee-based) online sources are also available.
Note: This Online sources definition in the One-L Dictionary for new law students is from Harvard Law School (HLS).
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You might be interested in these references tools:
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Online sources in the Dictionary | Online sources in our legal dictionaries |
| Related topics | Browse topics from the World Wiki Encyclopedia of Law |
| Browse the Legal Thesaurus | Find synonyms and related words of Online sources |
| Legal Maxims | Maxims are established principles that jurists use as interpretive tools, invoked more frequently in international law |
| Legal Answers (Q&A) | A community-driven knowledge creation process, of enduring value to a broad audience |
| Related topics | Online sources in the World Encyclopedia of Law |
What is Online sources?
Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Topic Map | A group of names, occurrences and associations |
| Topic Tree | A topic display format, showing the hierarchy |
| Sitemap Index | Sitemap Index, including Taxonomies |
| https://legaldictionary.lawin.org/online-sources | The URI of Online sources (more about URIs) |
Westlaw and LexisNexis are the two principal online sources for legal information (find out more about legal research). A developing new source is Loislaw which provides access to federal and state primary and secondary law sources (find out more about legal research). In addition, the Internet is increasingly becoming a resource for legal research, although one must constantly be more alert to the accuracy and completeness of the sources found on the Internet (find out more about legal research). Many students ask what the difference is between Lexis and Westlaw or why they should use one over the other (find out more about legal research). The answer to this varies and has many parts (find out more about legal research). First, your employer for whatever reason, including financial considerations, may only have one of the two systems (find out more about legal research). Personal preferences for whatever reason often plays a key part in deciding which system to use (find out more about legal research). Westlaw provides the headnotes from the West reporter system while Lexis’ wealth of non-legal and business information is highly valuable (find out more about legal research).
Another important question often asked is, why use books at all if there are computers? The online services should be seen as another resource that can help the readers or users with your research (find out more about legal research). Often, it is the best source (find out more about legal research). However, there are also times when it may be a hindrance (find out more about legal research). the readers or users may need to research a project in both book and online sources, using the information gathered from one to help the readers or users with using the other (find out more about legal research). Of course, the readers or users may find that what the readers or users need is not available online yet–or that your access is limited at the time the readers or users need to find the answer (find out more about legal research).
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