Posted by John Merchant,JD on April 10, 2002 at 10:00:22:
In Reply to: It's even easier than that!! posted by Lyal on April 10, 2002 at 09:26:35:
Oh sure, there are lots of great law sites online and I use them all the time, but for the beginner or non-lawyer, I think it's much easier to pick up and thumb through a bound volume. Especially to get an overview of the law in that area in that State.
I think my first recommendation would be Martindale Hubbell's Law Directory's Law Digest. MH is a set of very large volumes and they're found in every county courthouse, I'd wager, in the USA and Canada.
To find them, just ask the law librarian to show you where they are...they're BIG books, and heavy, but simplicity itself to use.
And one or two volumes have State law digests, for all the statutory law in all states; this is highly condensed, of course, but refers the reader to the state statute, and page and section number, so it really is a great starting place.
Basically the problem with online law sites is that one finds himself looking at a needle, and it's hard to get a general view of the haystack behind and surrounding the needle. In understanding what the law is, it's frequently a big help to see the whole haystack.
For instance, suppose the researcher is wanting to know about specific Mobile Home legislation/statutes in State of Masabama-it's much easier to go to MH Digest and look under Mobile Homes than almost any other approach...then once it's determined that there is some MH law in Masabama, the researcher can turn to and read in a page or two, all the statutes in that state on that subject. Then the reader can find that state's statutes, in book form, or online, if he prefers, and read the statutes in detail.
To do the same thing, without the help of having the bound volume in one's hands, and just confining one's research to the best of the law sites online, would probably take three times as long.