Legal periodical articles are important secondary resources that serve both to explain a particular facet of a topic and to point the researcher to primary sources (such as cases and statutes) and other secondary resources.

Legal periodicals include law reviews, legal newspapers, bar association periodicals, and interdisciplinary journals.  They can be general in scope (such as the William and Mary Law Review) or focused on a specific subject (for example, the Santa Clara Computer and High-Technology Law Journal).  Many journals are published several times a year, insuring that the articles are current and topical when published.  Oftentimes, journal articles will cover a newly developing area of the law before books on the subject are available.  Furthermore, they are useful tools for examining present trends and recent changes in the law.

Use LION or ask a reference librarian to find out whether the law library or Swem (William and Mary's main-campus library) has a particular journal title.  Current journals are located on the main floor of the law library.  Older journals are kept in compact shelving in the basement.

An index search involves looking for an article using the subject, author, keyword, or other field under which it is indexed.  For example, to retrieve articles about the right to recover stolen works of art, one might search using the subject heading "art thefts - remedies."

During a full-text search, the researcher looks through the text of the articles themselves for certain words without regard to the particular subjects of the articles.  Again as an example, if one were to look for articles about the right to recover stolen works of art, one might search in a full-text database using terms such as "recovery" and "'stolen art.'"

Index searching has a distinct advantage over full-text searching in two important aspects.  Searching by the index method ensures that the articles retrieved will be somehow connected to the index term.  For instance, a keyword search using the term "stolen art" will yield a list of articles that discuss issues dealing with art theft.  A full-text search using the same term will return any article in the database that mentions the words "stolen art," regardless of the topic of the article.  In other words, a full-text search may result in a greater number of irrelevant hits than the same index search.  The other advantage to index searching is that once a relevant article is identified in an index search, the subject terms by which the article is indexed can be used to find additional relevant articles classified under the same subject.

Full-text searching is advantageous, however, when one wishes to retrieve articles about a narrowly-defined topic.  For instance, if the researcher is interested in articles about the rights of descendents of Jewish Holocaust victims to recover family art stolen by Nazi soldiers during World War II, a full-text search might be more effective than an index search by yielding more precise results.

Full-text searches  

In either law review database below (both of which are comprised of the texts of hundreds of journals), the researcher enters key terms and can use segment or field restrictions to limit the search to specific dates, authors, or source.  A password is required to use either Lexis of Westlaw.  The library issues passwords to law students and faculty.

Please note that neither service includes every issue of each journal.  Holdings vary, depending on the specific journal.  Some journals' articles in the databases begin with 1980 (such as the Tulane Maritime Law Journal on Lexis), but some were added more recently (for example, the New York City Law Review on Lexis, which begins with Spring 1998).  Therefore, the researcher may miss relevant articles, even if they were published in the last decade.

For information about the holdings for a specific journal on either service, please see a reference librarian.

• Lexis law review database (LAWREV;ALLREV). 
  
  
• Westlaw Journals and Law Review database (JLR).

Index searches

The table below illustrates the various options for searching by index term for legal periodical articles.

INDEX SEARCHING

LegalTrac from Gale Publishing

Includes a subject index, an author/title index, and case and statute tables.  Volumes are published annually and do not cumulate.  Updated monthly.

Indexes articles from non-U.S. law journals.  Contains a subject index which lists entries by country, a geographical index, and an author index.  Annual volumes do not cumulate.  Updated quarterly.

Features an integrated subject and author index, as well as case and statute tables.  Volumes are published annually and do not cumulate.  No longer updated at the law library after 1/2001.

Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (see chart, above) indexes articles from non-U.S. law journals, beginning with 1960.

An Index to Legal Periodical Literature indexes articles from Anglo-American legal and general periodicals from 1770 - 1937.  It is also known as the Jones-Chipman Index to Legal Periodicals. An online version of the index covers 1786-1922.

Index to Legal Periodicals also covers Anglo-American law journal articles prior to 1980.  This series began in 1886, but indexes articles from well before that date.  For information about ILP in print, see the chart above.

Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law (see chart, above) indexes literature from non-legal sources, beginning with 1958.  Volumes up to 1979 also include legal periodicals which were not indexed in Index to Legal Periodicals. 

A few indices that one might consult include:

• Readers Guide to Periodical Literature or Readers Guide Abstracts (online through Firstsearch - W&M only)

• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International in Print or PAIS International online (Firstsearch - W&M only)

• Social Sciences Index or Social Sciences Abstracts (online through Firstsearch - W&M only)

• Business Periodicals Index or Business Index ASAP (online through InfoTrac - W&M only)

• General Science Index or General Science Abstracts (online through Firstsearch - W&M only)

Swem Library at William and Mary maintains a comprehensive list of indices and databases available online, organized by topic.  Most databases are accessible from either a campus computer or from a home computer configured to access the William and Mary proxy server.  (In order to access the proxy server, you must be a student or staff member at William and Mary.)  For instructions regarding configuration, click here. 

In addition, Swem Library has prepared online guides to assist with research in several disciplines.  The links below (with the exception of the first one) will direct you to each guide's section on finding periodicals on that subject.

• All guides

• Anthropology

• Business

• Education

• Sociology