Legal Research in Nexis Uni: Statutes & Legislation

Statutes and Legislation come from the legislative branches of federal or state government.

Search for a law by topic, its common name, or by citation.

For example:  Family and Medical Leave Act      29 U.S.C. § 2601

• Don't use Guided Search or any pre-limits
• Enter the law's name, or your topic
• Change the date range to be "All available dates"

Note: multiple words in quotes will search for that phrase.

• On the the results screen, click the Statutes and Legislation limit on the left.

It may be helpful to narrow your search results.  Look for the narrow options on the left of the results screen.

• You can limit the jurisdiction to U.S. Federal, or by state.
• Once you choose the jurisdiction limit, you'll see available sources in that jurisdiction.

• Don't use Guided Search or any pre-limits
• Enter the citation
• Change the date range to be "All available dates"

When entering a citation that has a section symbol (§), such as 29 U.S.C. § 2601, you can skip that section symbol.

You can also find statutes from a specific state, by including the state name in your search (without having to narrow your search).

Then on the results screen, click the limit for Statutes and Legislation as described above.

State Constitutions

The full text of state constitutions can also be found here.  Once you search for a term, and limit to Statutes and Legislation, choose the following narrow options:

• Jurisdiction - click on the state you want
• Sources - click on [state name] Annotated Constitution