There are many sources for free legal information on the Internet, especially for legislative bodies and regulatory agencies. It can be cost-effective to begin your research on free (but authoritative) websites before moving to fee-based legal databases.
Always remember:
The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Virtual Library hosts a collection of over 235,000 information resources on criminal justice subjects, including corrections, courts, drugs, law enforcement, juvenile justice, victims of crime, and related topics. The Virtual Library provides access to all known OJP works and sponsored research, as well as to thousands of government products, research reports, journal articles, and published and unpublished literature produced through 2014.
The Legal Information Institute is a not-for-profit group from Cornell Law School that compiles and provides primary and secondary sources for free including state and federal resources.
This website provides access to congressional bills, information on congressional committees, and the Congressional Record.
This database, operated by the Government Publishing Office, contains full-text official versions of government documents including the Code of Federal Regulations, the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, the U.S. Code, and more. GovInfo replaced FDSys in December 2018.
Provided by the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, the Caselaw Access Project contains all published U.S. court decisions, digitized from the Harvard Law Library's print collection. Content coverage goes back to 1658. This resource does not contain a search interface, but makes data available to researchers through bulk downloads or through their API.
South Carolina session laws are published in chronological order by session in the print South Carolina Acts & Joint Resolutions.
The full text of South Carolina Acts from 1980 through the current session of the South Carolina General Assembly is available on the Ratifications and Acts page of the South Carolina Legislature's website.
The full text of South Carolina Bills and Resolutions is available from 1980 forward on the Legislation page of the South Carolina Legislature's website.
Pending Senate and House Bills and Resolutions
Online access to bills introduced and pending in the current legislative session of the SC General Assembly is available through the Home and Legislation pages of the South Carolina Legislature's website.
Provided by the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, the Caselaw Access Project contains all published U.S. court decisions, digitized from the Harvard Law Library's print collection. Content coverage goes back to 1658. This resource does not contain a search interface, but makes data available to researchers through bulk downloads or through their API.
The Legal Information Institute is a not-for-profit group from Cornell Law School that compiles and provides primary and secondary sources for free including state and federal resources.
Provided by the Administrative Codes and Registers Section of the National Association of Secretaries of State, this website provides links to official rules, codes, and manuals used by rulewriting agencies. Coverage includes United States states, territories, and protectorates.
Provided by the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, the Caselaw Access Project contains all published U.S. court decisions, digitized from the Harvard Law Library's print collection. Content coverage goes back to 1658. This resource does not contain a search interface, but makes data available to researchers through bulk downloads or through their API.
This resource provides access to a large number of research guides and articles in the areas of international, comparative, and foreign law. Users can search for information, articles, and guides covering legal topics from around the world
The Guide to Law Online provides links to legal and governmental information for the federal government, the 50 states, foreign countries, and international and multinational organizations.
This database is a good place to start when searching for foreign law, as it provides links to various types of foreign primary sources (case law, statutes, etc.).
