Laws & Rules

Laws & Rules is the best place to start when you are looking for statutory, regulatory, constitutional, or similar source text rather than case law. You can search by topic, phrase, citation, or a combination of citation and context.

• Finding statutes, regulations, constitutions, and similar legal source material by topic, concept, phrase, or citation.
• Looking up a statute, regulation, rule, or similar source when you already know the citation.
• Searching with a citation plus a few descriptive words when you want extra context around the provision.
• Reviewing matching sections in context before opening the full source text.

This tool is designed to help you find legal source material by meaning. That makes it useful when you know the topic, phrase, or type of provision you need, even if you do not know the exact section number yet.

It is also citation-aware for supported sources. When you already know a statute, regulation, rule, or similar citation, you can search for it directly, or pair it with a few descriptive words when the citation could be broad or ambiguous.

• It is useful when you are looking for legal source text by meaning, not just exact wording.
• It works well for topic-based queries, natural-language fragments, and legal phrases.
• It supports citation-aware searches for statutes, regulations, constitutions, and similar legal source text.
• You can search by citation alone, or combine the citation with topic words when that gives the system more useful context.
• It makes it easy to move from a matching snippet to either the original public source or the full highlighted source text in-app.

You can search by topic, phrase, citation, or a combination. Filters are still useful when you know the jurisdiction or source type.

1. 1

   Start with a legal topic, phrase, citation, or both

   If you know the citation, enter it directly. If the citation could be broad or ambiguous, add a few words about the issue. For example, `42 U.S.C. section 1983 municipal liability` gives more context than entering only `1983`.

2. 2

   Choose a jurisdiction whenever you can

   This search is broad by design, so adding a jurisdiction often improves the results quickly. If you leave jurisdiction open, the search can return materials from across all available jurisdictions.

3. 3

   Choose the most specific authority type available

   Use the authority-type filter when you know whether you want a statute, regulation, constitution, or another available source type. The filter options adjust based on the selected jurisdiction.

4. 4

   Review the returned source summaries and matching sections

   Results are grouped by source, with the strongest source shown first. Within each source, the matching sections appear in source order so you can read them in a more natural way.

5. 5

   Open the source in the way that helps most

   You can often click the citation to open the original source website in a new tab, or click the section heading to view the full text in-app with the matching portions highlighted.

Good searches can be a legal concept, phrase, citation, or citation with enough context to show what you are looking for.

• California wage statement requirements
• Texas premises liability statute
• 29 C.F.R. section 825.220
• 42 U.S.C. section 1983 municipal liability
• Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss
• Fourth Amendment unreasonable search
• New York regulation nurse staffing

Very short inputs like a bare section number or a single broad word can still work sometimes, but a complete citation, topic words, or filters usually make the search more reliable.

The results are organized to help you move quickly from a likely source to the exact matching text.

Laws & Rules can search by citation for supported statutes, regulations, rules, constitutional provisions, and similar source materials. If you know the citation, enter it directly. If the same citation pattern could appear in more than one place, add the jurisdiction, authority type, or a few words about the issue.

If you find the right result, you can then open the source in-app or go to the linked public site to review the full text. If you already know the exact provision and mainly want to browse nearby sections, the official source site is usually the better place to continue reading.

This tool is strongest for legal source text. It is less ideal when your research task belongs in one of the case-law tools or when you mainly want to browse an entire code or set of rules section by section.

• Case citations belong in Citation Lookup or another case-law search tool.
• A complete statute, regulation, rule, or similar source citation is usually stronger than a bare section number or short fragment.
• If a citation could appear in multiple sources or jurisdictions, add the jurisdiction, authority type, or a few topic words.
• Very broad single-word searches can return less focused results unless you narrow them with filters.
• It is not meant for browsing through an entire statutory code or set of rules section by section.
• If you already know the exact statute or rule and want to read surrounding provisions, the official source website is often the better place to browse.
• If you are looking for cases rather than statutes, regulations, or constitutions, one of the case-law tools is usually a better fit.

A few simple habits can make source searching much more effective.

• Use the full statute, regulation, rule, or similar source citation when you have it.
• Add topic words when the citation could be ambiguous or when you want a particular issue angle.
• Add a jurisdiction early if you already know the state or source that matters.
• Choose the most specific authority type you can instead of leaving everything on all filters.
• If you already know the exact source and want to read around it, use the linked official site to browse the surrounding sections.
• Open the heading view when you want to see the matching language in context, and use the source link when you want to confirm the original public source text.