Daniel Library: HESS555: Sports Law: Primary and Secondary Sources in Law

Pyramid of Legal Research Source Levels

Primary sources

Primary sources are the law itself. These sources include: statutes (and codes), regulations, treaties, and case law.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Nexis Uni has replaced LexisNexis Academic. Please access Nexis Uni from our list of databases.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is the world’s largest fully searchable, image-based government document and legal research database. It contains comprehensive coverage from inception of both U.S. statutory materials and more than 2,300 scholarly journals, all of the world’s constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, and access to the full text of state and federal case law powered by Fastcase.
Legal Classics Library This link opens in a new window
Includes thousands of works from some of the greatest legal minds in history including Joseph Story, Jeremy Bentham, William Blackstone, William Holdsworth, Henry Maine, Federick William Maitland, Frederick Pollock, Benjamin E. Cardozo, and many more! In addition to many classic treatises, this collection also includes rare items that are found in only a handful of libraries around the world.

Google Scholar
Look up articles and case law.
S.C Code of Laws
South Carolina Code of Laws
United States Code
The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives.
U.S. Senate
Laws, regulations, Finding federal laws and acts
Regulations.gov
Public access to regulatory materials to increase rulemaking participation and improve agencies
Supreme Court of the United States
JUSTIA US Law
Sometimes referred to as the “work horses” of the federal courts, the US Federal District Courts hear both civil and criminal federal cases on the trial level. Established by Congress, the courts are broken down into 89 districts within the fifty states along with six more that include various US territories. Appeals from these courts are heard at the Federal Circuit Appellate Courts which correspond to their geographic location.
Library of Congress Legal Research Guide to Case Law

Federal Appellate Circuit Map

Secondary sources

Secondary sources provides commentary and analysis of the law. They may be written for legal practitioners, the general public, or law students. Some common examples include: treatises, legal scholarship (law journals and reviews), newsletters, jury instructions, practice materials, formbooks, encyclopedias, and etc.

Overview of the South Carolina Judicial System
The judicial system of South Carolina is composed of the courts, the prosecution, and the defense components. The court system is comprised of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Courts, Family Courts, the Magisterial Courts, Municipal Courts, Probate Courts, and Master-in-Equity Courts. The prosecutorial system is made up of the circuit solicitors and the Attorney General's Office. The defense component includes public defender corporations, court appointed counsel, retained counsel, and the S.C. Commission of Appellate Defense.
Harvard Law School Library - Treaties by Subject
Harvard Law School Library Guide Index to the to find treatises on your topic. - You will have to search the Daniel Library catalog for access. We may not have access to books that are recommended.

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is the world’s largest fully searchable, image-based government document and legal research database. It contains comprehensive coverage from inception of both U.S. statutory materials and more than 2,300 scholarly journals, all of the world’s constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, and access to the full text of state and federal case law powered by Fastcase.
SPORTDiscus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
SPORTDiscus with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive source of full text for sports & sports medicine journals, providing full text for 550 journals indexed in SPORTDiscus. This authoritative file contains full text for many of the most used journals in the SPORTDiscus index - with no embargo. With full-text coverage dating back to 1985, SPORTDiscus with Full Text is the definitive research tool for all areas of sports & sports medicine literature.
SBRnet This link opens in a new window
SBRnet and the Sports Market Analytics Platform provide a comprehensive online platform of nationwide sports business, sports marketing and sports marketing analytics, using syndicated custom and proprietary research for professional and college sports, consumer research, industry reports, and licensed industry articles. The service features extensive research and custom reports covering sports participation, the fan market and behaviors, venues, sponsorships, and expenditure on sporting goods, brand preference, and more. The service also provides the academic community with a comprehensive Sports Business Resource Center to provide additional research support and insights.
Sports Medicine & Education Index This link opens in a new window
Since 1970 CSA Physical Education Index has been covering this vast collection of material. Records are indexed and classified from peer-reviewed journals, report literature, conference proceedings, trade magazines, patents, articles from the popular press, and many other publications. Beginning in January 2001, enhancements to the database include the addition of abstracts, e-mail addresses, expanded publisher and author information, and other data to facilitate access to the fulltext.

Court Listener
CourtListener.com – Free Law Project's fully-searchable and accessible archive of court data including growing repositories of opinions, oral arguments, judges, judicial financial records, and federal filings.
Law Library of Congress Researcher Resources

Find an article when you have a citation

Law journal citation