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Legal Encyclopedias

Ideally, legal encyclopedias include the following:

  • A complete and integrated statement of all applicable law
  • Citations to relied-upon authority (i.e. cases, treatises and restatements)
  • Analytical and subject indexes
  • Frequent supplements

An encyclopedia is used as a starting point in a search for law. The researcher will find an elementary statement of the applicable law and a list of cases supporting the statement.

In the Wirtz Labor Library we have the following encyclopedias:

  • Corpus Juris Secondum (CJS) 2d (West Publishing)
  • American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) 2d.(Lexis Publishing)

There are differences between the two titles:

Corpus Juris Secondum American Jurispurudence
Cites all cases on point Cites selective cases
Indexes correspond to Digests and West's Key Numbers system Indexes correspond to American Law Reports
References to West Publications References to LEXIS Products
No almanac function Desk Book with Historical and Legal Facts

Portions of CJS are available via WESTLAW. Call 1 800 REF ATTY for assistance.
Am Jur 2d is available on LEXIS in CONLAW;AMJUR

There are currently no Legal Encyclopedias available for free on the Internet.