Laws and court decisions are public by design, and a surprising amount is free to read online straight from the official source. Whether you're a student, a journalist, a founder checking a regulation, or just curious, here's how to find primary legal material yourself — and how to read it safely.
Primary vs. secondary sources
A primary source is the law itself — the actual statute, regulation, or court judgment. A secondary source explains or comments on it: a news article, a law-firm blog, an encyclopedia entry. Secondary sources are great for understanding, but when it matters, always trace a claim back to the primary source, because summaries simplify and sometimes get it wrong.
Where to find laws & regulations
- United States — the Federal Register (daily rules and notices) and Congress.gov (bills and the U.S. Code).
- United Kingdom — legislation.gov.uk, the official home of Acts and statutory instruments.
- European Union — EUR-Lex, which holds treaties, regulations and directives in every official language.
- India — the India Code repository of central and state Acts.
- Most countries run an official gazette or legislation portal; look for the government (.gov) domain.
Where to find court cases
- United States — CourtListener (Free Law Project) indexes millions of opinions for free.
- United Kingdom — Find Case Law from The National Archives publishes court judgments.
- India — Indian Kanoon makes judgments, statutes and orders searchable.
- Canada & Australia — CanLII and AustLII offer free, comprehensive case law.
- European Union — CURIA holds the decisions of the Court of Justice of the EU.
Searching effectively
- 1If you have a citation or case number, search that first — it lands you on the exact document.
- 2Otherwise use distinctive keywords plus a filter for country, court or year to cut the volume.
- 3Read the headnote or summary at the top of a case to decide whether the full judgment is worth reading.
- 4Note the date and whether a later decision has overruled or appealed it — old law may no longer apply.
PaperFinder's Registry tab searches laws and court cases by type and country, showing live records from the U.S. Federal Register and CourtListener and linking out to the official registries elsewhere. It indexes and links — it never invents case numbers, statuses or outcomes.
Important: finding and reading the law is not the same as getting legal advice. Statutes and cases are complex, jurisdiction-specific and constantly changing. Use these tools for research and understanding — and for an actual decision that affects you, consult a qualified lawyer.
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