Secondary Sources
Where to find common secondary sources that are used in legal research
Last Updated: May 8, 2025 2:20 PM
Legal Encyclopedias
Encyclopedias
A great place to start your research, especially if you are researching a topic new to you. Footnotes will lead you to relevant cases and statutes.
Available in print:
American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) 2d
Call Number: KF154 .A42 (Law Library Reference)New York Jurisprudence (NY Jur) 2d
Call Number: KFN5065 .N48 1979 (Law Library New York Alcove)
Available online:
- American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) 2d (Westlaw Campus Research)Covers "American law - state and federal, civil and criminal, substantive and procedural. The articles collect, examine, and summarize the broad principles of American law and,...provide direct leads to supporting cases, related annotations, forms, proofs, and trial techniques."
- American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) 2d (Westlaw)A comprehensive legal encyclopedia with "textual statements of law alphabetically arranged in more than 400 topics."
- American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) 2d (LEXIS)Published by West , this encyclopedia covers "both procedural and substantive American law, state, federal, criminal, civil and procedural."
- Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) (Westlaw Campus Research)A national legal encyclopedia, covering state and federal legal topics
- Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) (Westlaw)A national legal encyclopedia, covering state and federal legal topics.
- New York Jurisprudence (NY Jur) 2d (Westlaw Campus Research)An encyclopedia covering "the civil and criminal law of New York, both substantive and procedural, based on state statutes, and state and federal case law. "
- New York Jurisprudence (NY Jur) 2d (Westlaw)A legal encyclopedia providing detailed coverage of New York civil and criminal law, both substantive and procedural.
- New York Jurisprudence (NY Jur) 2d (LEXIS)An encyclopedia of New York law comprising over 400 separate titles on a broad range of legal topics.
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law 2nd ed.Provided information on more than 5,000 legal topics. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004.
- Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library)Includes subject encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference works in more than 20 subject areas. Sample law titles are:
Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice
Encyclopedia of Education Law
Encyclopedia of Law and Society
Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities
Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States
World Encyclopedia of Police Forces and Correctional Systems