Suffice to say, those in the biz tend to focus mostly on case law, probably because they know the basics of statutory and common law, case law is not codified, and (all) case law is not offered for free even on horribly designed, practically useless government websites.
But, at least for my purposes, state legislation and statutory codifications (and their regulatory counterparts) are also very important to have bulk access to. Even outdated materials are useful, as once I know a section is relevant (because I can run complicated queries against entire datasets), I can begin research using more arcane methods (such as government websites and printed materials.) My treks through the California Codes and the California Code of Regulations would not have been possible without bulk access (I had to do it myself of course, after the Legislative Counsel got forced by CFAC/FAC and MAPLight.org to release the DB), and there was little case law on the issues I was doing research on (that I knew or know of) to guide me.
Outdated material may not be so useful for practicing lawyers, but its extremely useful for the 99%.
Unfortunately, in the U.S.statutory law is of limited utility without the case law which in interpreting it, modifies it. I agree that there are all sorts of forgotten gems to be mined--such as when the U.S. Congress established a church.
> federal and state law
Your entire post is about:
> case law
Suffice to say, those in the biz tend to focus mostly on case law, probably because they know the basics of statutory and common law, case law is not codified, and (all) case law is not offered for free even on horribly designed, practically useless government websites.
But, at least for my purposes, state legislation and statutory codifications (and their regulatory counterparts) are also very important to have bulk access to. Even outdated materials are useful, as once I know a section is relevant (because I can run complicated queries against entire datasets), I can begin research using more arcane methods (such as government websites and printed materials.) My treks through the California Codes and the California Code of Regulations would not have been possible without bulk access (I had to do it myself of course, after the Legislative Counsel got forced by CFAC/FAC and MAPLight.org to release the DB), and there was little case law on the issues I was doing research on (that I knew or know of) to guide me.
Outdated material may not be so useful for practicing lawyers, but its extremely useful for the 99%.
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