Library

Econ 371: Law & Economics

Reference Books on Law and Economics

New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law.
Ref. K487.E3 N48 1998 (3 volumes)
The premier reference source on the topic of this course. Detailed articles on major law and econ. concepts, including citations of major cases and brief bibliographies of relevant books and articles.

American Jurisprudence 2d.
A legal encyclopedia available through Lexis Nexis Academic.  Summarizes broad areas of American law and provides citations to supporting cases.

West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, 2nd ed.
Ref. KF154 .W47 2005 (13 volumes)
A legal encyclopedia for those of us who aren't in law school. Articles on a wide variety of legal concepts.

Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th ed.
KF156 .B53 2004
The indispensible reference source for keeping those arcane legal definitions straight.

How to Find the Law.
Ref. KF240 .C538 1989
Organization of and pathfinding through legal literature, written by lawyers for lawyers. It clears up many questions about court structure and legal process along the way.

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Legal News Sources

Lexis-Nexis Academic
Search general news sources such as newspapers, magazines, and broadcast transcripts as well specialized legal news sources.

Oregonian (1988-current)

Wall Street Journal (1984-current)

Findlaw Legal News and Commentary
Very current legal news stories

Jurist Legal News & Research (University of Pittsburgh School of Law)
Current news stories categorized by issue.

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Getting Cases & Other Laws

Federal & State Cases from Lexis-Nexis Academic is the primary source of court cases at Reed.  Use the guide How to Find Case Law on Lexis-Nexis Academic to get started.

Other types of laws in Lexis-Nexis include:

• Federal & State Codes (legislation currently in force, organized by federal agency or by state)

• Federal regulation & rules: See Regulations in Lexis Nexis Congressional.

• Public laws and Statutes at Large (federal legislation as passed by Congress): See Legislative history, bills, & laws in Lexis-Nexis Congressional.

• State laws (as passed by state legislatures): See Statutes in Lexis-Nexis State Capital.

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Citing Online Sources

Many of the legal and news sources you use in this course are online. Your citations for these sources should include these elements:

News article:Author, if any (year). Title. Source title, date if needed, page number. [Online.] Available: URL of source.

Example: Paul D. Kamenar (1994). Property owners get a tool. Legal Times, 25 July, S41. [Online.] Available: www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.

Court case: Case name, case citation (year). [Online.] Available: URL of source.

Example: Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374 (1994). [Online.] Available: www.lexis-nexis.com/universe.

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