Massachusetts Legal Research
The following is a select list of primary and secondary source material pertaining to Massachusetts law. This guide provides call numbers for materials located in the Harvard Law School Library and links to Westlaw and Lexis databases. Please note that sources such as Westlaw or Lexis, are only available to those with a current Westlaw or Lexis password. As always, before using fee-based online resources such as Westlaw and Lexis, be sure to know your firm's policies on using them. This guide also provides information about the Social Law Library databases, an online service available through the Harvard Law School Library network and at many law firms. For tips on how to choose a resource, please see How to do Legal Research in the Law Firm Environment.
IMPORTANT: if you choose to click on the links taking you to Westlaw or Lexis
search screens, you must "sign off" the database before hitting the
Back icon on your browser to return to this guide. If you neglect to do so,
you will remain signed on and may accrue charges.
To access information contained within this guide, click on the appropriate link in the outline below.
I. SECONDARY SOURCES
A. State Encyclopedia/Practice Guide
B. Treatises
C. Digests
D. Directories
II. PRIMARY SOURCES
A. Constitutional Law
B. Administrative Law
C. Judicial Decisions and Court Information
D. Legislative Information
III. LEGAL NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES
I. SECONDARY SOURCES
Although primary sources of law are the materials that set forth the law on
a given topic, they can be difficult sources in which to find answers. Secondary
sources often explain legal principles more thoroughly than a single case or
statute, and secondary sources are useful for identifying the major primary
sources and terms of art associated with a particular area of law. The following
is a brief list of Massachusetts specific secondary sources. Please use the
following link for more information about secondary
sources in general.
State Encyclopedia/Practice Guide
Massachusetts Practice (KFM2480 .M3) is a series of treatises about various aspects of Massachusetts law. While technically not a legal encyclopedia, its entries are comprehensive, easy to understand, and neutral in tone. Massachusetts Practice summarizes over forty areas of law, such as employment law, workers' compensation, taxation, and landlord tenant law. It also cites to key primary sources and practice materials (such as forms), and it has a subject index which may be used to find cases pertaining to a particular topic. Massachusetts Practice is available online through Westlaw.
For an alphabetic list of Massachusetts treatises by topic, please see Chapter 11 ("Selected Legal Research Resources") in The Handbook of Legal Research in Massachusetts. This list provides the title, author and publisher for well over one hundred Massachusetts specific books, ranging in subject from Administrative law to Zoning.
To locate treatises about Massachusetts law at Harvard, conduct a keyword search in Hollis for your topic and the word "Massachusetts" as keywords anywhere in the record. For example keywords anywhere: tenant law and Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education ("MCLE") is a leading provider of continuing legal education sources for Massachusetts practitioners. MCLE's primary audience is Massachusetts attorneys and its primary focus is "applied Massachusetts law." To locate MCLE materials in the Harvard Library, perform an author keyword search on Hollis for "Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education."
If you are completing case law research in print, digests allow you to find cases on a particular subject.
West's Massachusetts Digest 2d series is a multi-volume subject index, which breaks the entire body of law into over 400 broad topics. Each topic is further divided into subjects, and then subdivided into smaller subjects. These divisions are assigned "key numbers," which may be used to look up similar Massachusetts cases on point. This digest series covers decisions of Massachusetts state courts as well as federal courts located within Massachusetts. The 2d series covers cases decided since 1933; for prior decisions, consult the original Massachusetts Digest Annotated. For more information about case law finding, please see the judicial decisions and court information section of this guide.
Massachusetts Lawyers Diary & Manual published annually, this source provides contact information for Massachusetts government officials and lawyers.
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory published annually, this source provides contact information for Massachusetts lawyers and judges. This source is also freely available online.
Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers this source provides an online database of attorneys licensed to practice law in Massachusetts.
West’s Legal Directory (accessible through FindLaw) provides contact information for lawyers and law firms in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts constitution is divided into two parts: part one provides the declaration of rights consisting of thirty articles that grant specific individual rights for Massachusetts citizens; and part two provides the frame of government. The Articles of Amendment are the end of the constitution, and they consist of the 120 constitutional amendments made to the constitution. For a detailed history of the Massachusetts constitution or more information about its specific parts, see The Handbook of Legal Research in Massachusetts.
A good source for locating the text of a state constitution is often a state’s annotated code. An annotated code will provide both the latest text of the constitution, as well as notes of court decisions interpreting particular constitutional provisions. Click on the following links to learn more about citing, and finding sources containing the Massachusetts constitution.
Generally, state administrative law consists of regulations, adjudicatory proceedings, and state agency advisory opinions. Often the best resource for state agency information is the agency itself. For an alphabetical list of links to agency sites see, the Mass.gov portal. Additionally, the Massachusetts Social Law Library databases service is a great tool for accessing Massachusetts administrative rulings online. For information about accessing Massachusetts administrative law, please see the following Massachusetts administrative law guide. For information about accessing federal administrative law, please see the federal administrative law guide.
Regulations
Regulations, also known as rules, are in depth administrative orders. Massachusetts
publishes its regulations chronologically in a daily gazette called the Massachusetts
Register and then publishes rules in effect by agency in a publication called
the Code
of Massachusetts Regulations. Click on the following links to learn more
about where to find and how to cite
these publications.
Adjudicatory Proceedings
Over sixty-five state agencies conduct adjudicatory proceedings and issue
decisions. Some agencies make these decisions available to the public either
through the State House Bookstore, commercial publishers, or by making the decisions
available directly. For a complete list of agencies that report decisions and
information about where the decisions are published please consult Exhibit 6A
in The
Handbook of Legal Research in Massachusetts. Click on the following link
for a select list of finding aids for adjudicatory
proceedings.
Advisory Opinions
Administrative advisory opinions range from opinions issued by the attorney
general at the request of state agencies, to opinions issued by an agency at
the request of an individual citizen who would like to know how an agency would
treat a proposed action. Click on the following links to learn how to find
and cite Massachusetts advisory opinions.
Judicial Decisions & Court Information
State Courts in Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, the trial
courts, which are courts of limited jurisdiction, include the Boston Municipal
Court, District court, Housing court, Juvenile court, Land court, Probate &
Family court, and the Superior Court. Click on the following link to learn more
about finding and citing materials from the
trial courts. The Appeals Court or intermediate appellate court,
hears appeals from the trial courts. Click here to learn more about finding
and citing materials from the Appeals Court. Finally Appeals
Court cases can be appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“SJC”).
Click the following links for more information about finding
and citing materials from the Supreme Judicial Court. The
Massachusetts Court
System website provides an overview (with diagrams) of how the Massachusetts
state courts are organized. Click the following link for a graphic
outline of the Massachusetts court system. For more information about finding
Massachusetts case law, please see the following guide
offered through Suffolk University.
Records and Briefs
The underlying materials in a court case, such as the pleadings, motions,
and briefs, may be useful for legal research. Appellate court briefs present
the parties’ written arguments as well as the authorities each is relying
on to maintain their position. The record provides documents relating to
the
proceedings in the lower courts such as the judgment, trial transcript, and
notice of appeal. Note, the record may also include a copy of the trial court
opinion. Please click on the following link for more information about locating
and citing Massachusetts records and briefs.
Court Rules
Court rules control the procedural aspects of court proceedings. Court
rules may be enacted by statute, by the courts themselves, or
by judicial conferences.
Many jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, have rules governing trial and
appellate court procedure as well as rules for specialized courts
or proceedings.
Massachusetts state court rules, like those of most states, are published in
the state’s annotated code. Please click on the following link to
learn where you can find Massachusetts
court rules.
Other Court Information
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly is a major Massachusetts legal newspaper, which
includes a wide range of court information such as judicial news, verdicts,
settlements, and profiles of Massachusetts attorneys, firms and judges. Please
see the Harvard
Law School Library’s Research Guide for information about using and
accessing Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
Massachusetts state statutes are first published as slip laws, then in chronological order as session laws, then as codes and annotated codes. Slip laws are useful for staying up to date on new legislation since they are the first printed form of a law that is available after its enactment. Please see the following link for more information about locating slip laws. Session laws are a chronological arrangement of the laws passed by the Massachusetts legislature within a session. Session laws provide the complete text of a law as it appeared when enacted. Please use the following link for more information about finding, citing, and updating Massachusetts session laws. Statutory codes provide a subject arrangement of all the permanent general laws in force in Massachusetts at a particular time. Codes, whether annotated or unannotated, are a good source for statutory research since they bring related statutes together, provide information about amendments, and annotated codes provides references to cases and other research aids pertaining to the statue. Please click here for more information about finding, citing, and updating Massachusetts codes. The following link takes you to a helpful guide about researching federal and state statutes. For general information about using statutory materials, please consult the link marked statutes to access a brief video about federal statutory research. (RealNetwork player or compatible software is required for video playback.)
Massachusetts Legislative History
A legislative history details the events leading to the enactment of a statute.
Legislative histories often include hearings, committee reports, and floor debates,
and legislative histories are often used to show evidence of legislative intent.
While the events leading to the enactment of a federal statute tend to be well
documented, it is useful to understand that there are no services such as Thomas
or CIS for compiling or tracking legislative histories of Massachusetts bills.
The State Library of Massachusetts is excellent. It is open to the general public
and it has many documents not available anywhere else. It is possible to call
or e-mail the State House
Library staff with research questions. You can also search the State
Library catalog to find materials and consult the library's helpful guide
to Legislative
History Resources. Another useful resource is the Massachusetts
Legislature Home Page. It includes links to the current statutes, a legislative
tracking system, and other legislative information. Still, most of the legislative
history documents that one expects to find at the federal level are not available
at the state level. Please see the following link for additional guides about
the legislative process in Massachusetts
and the steps involved in completing a Massachusetts legislative history.
III. Legal Newspapers and Magazines
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly includes news about attorneys and law firms, stories on the latest cases of interest, articles about proposed legislation and regulations, daily e-mail alerts, and other legal materials. It is also available online; please use the following link for more information about accessing Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly electronically.
Both LexisNexis and Westlaw provide databases of Massachusetts legal news:
Lexis' coverage includes documents from the Boston Business Journal, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Boston Law Tribune, Harvard Business Review, The Patriot Ledger, Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts), The Union Leader, and the Western Massachusetts Law Tribune.
Westlaw's coverage includes documents from the Boston Globe, Boston Herald,
Boston Magazine, Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA), Gay & Lesbian
Review, Harvard Educational Review, Haverhill Gazette (MA), Lawrence Eagle-Tribune
(North Andover, MA), Massachusetts Review, MIT's Technology Review, New England
Quarterly, Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA), Reunion, Springfield Union-News, Standard-Times,
Studies in American Fiction, and the Telegram & Gazette (Worcester).
For more in-depth information about legal research in Massachusetts, consult the following:
The Handbook of Legal Research in Massachusetts this source is a fantastic, comprehensive, current (it is a looseleaf publication) guide to Massachusetts legal research. Among other things, it includes a chapter on municipal law, state tax law, legislative procedure, and legal resources by topic. It also provides historical information as well as contemporary sources.
For additional Massachusetts research guides pertaining to Massachusetts legal research, please see the following:
Massachusetts Legal Research (Library
of Congress)
Massachusetts
Materials (Suffolk Law School webography)
Massachusetts
Legal Forms (Suffolk University Law Library)
State
Resource Center: Massachusetts (information provided through LexisOne)
StateLaw: Massachusetts (Washburn University Law Library)
Massachusetts Legal
Research (Boston University Law Library)
Massachusetts
Legal Research (Boston College Law Library)
Massachusetts
Family Law Guide (Suffolk University)
Good luck this summer! Do not forget to consult with your law firm’s librarian or with the reference staff of the Harvard Law School Library Anglo-American Reference Desk if you have any questions about your legal research. You can reach us by email or by phone, at 617-495-4516.