Where can I find good resources for researching the law?

Besides asking questions on Y!A, of course.

I find myself wondering what the law is in this case and that all the time. Like an average person, I have a real ignorance of what the law actually says. Where can I go to find out?

I'd prefer websites, of course. And I don't really have time to go to the library and read through thousands of pages of law texts. There must be resources out there that explain laws in a way a layman can understand.

Thanks for your help.

www.nexis-lexis.com

www.findlaw.com

Any major university, such as Cornell, has online library resources.

There is something you can pay for but it is worth it. It's called "Fast Case."

There are three basic things you'll need to learn to become your own "attorney.

1. What are the statutes/laws? The statutes/laws for your state/city are generally free and can be found online.

You need to read what the statutes/laws have to say first and foremost.

2. What are the rules of the court? This is VERY IMPORTANT. If you are going to write your own court papers, you need to follow the guidelines set forth in THE court for which you plan on filing your pleadings. Remember: Rules are NOT statutes/laws. Rules are more or less the mechanics of how your pleading is supposed to look, what it should contain, page length, spacing, text size, time limits, etc.

3. You should go to the law library at least once. There, you will find a book that has all the statutes in it. This book will also have footnotes of all the relevant supporting cases regarding each and every statute. Jot down or photocopy the relevant case law. Then, you could go home and use "fast case" to read about these cases. Find out what the court decided.

4. Then you can either pay online, through fast case, or go back to a law library and do something called "shepardizing" each case.

The cases that are pertinent to each statute will have ADDITIONAL cases in which that case was quoted (cited).

As you can see, I've done an awful lot of legal research since I couldn't afford an attorney. It has been quite an education that I really didn't want, and, yes, I prevailed!!! But it was hell, pure hell.