Print Indexes for Legal Periodicals  

Introduction

Legal periodicals are excellent secondary sources of in depth analysis and criticism of legal issues, and also lead the reader to primary sources such as cases and statutes. The five main types of legal periodicals are: law reviews (or law journals), bar association journals, subject specialty journals, legal newspapers, and legal newsletters. The indexes described in this guide provide access points to the information contained in legal periodicals.

Locations of Indexes

All of the indexes described in this guide are available at this library. Print indexes are located in the first floor of the Law Library near the entrance to the library and the Public Online Access Computers, next to the restrooms and the Shepard’s collection. The shelving unit is the short one, numbered “3”.

Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (ILP)

Vol. 1 (to 1908) to present

• The first extensive index of legal periodicals.

 • Covers the widest range of dates. Therefore, this is an excellent source for locating legal periodical articles of a historical nature.                                                                                                                          

 • Covers English language periodicals and books that are published or edited in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.                                                                                                  

 • Subject/Author index list subjects and authors together in one alphabetical listing.                                    

 • Books follow articles in the listing under a particular subject.                                                                      

 • List of subject headings in each bound annual volume.                                                                               

 • List of abbreviations of periodicals appears in each monthly and annual volume.                                       

 • Book reviews are in a separate index, listed by the book author and title.                                                   

 • Table of Cases and Table of Statutes allow searching by case name or statute jurisdiction and name to find articles and books that cite that case of statute.

Current Law Index (CLI)

Vol. 1 (1980) to the present

• Covers English language articles from any country, but also includes French language articles from Canadian publications.

• Covers a greater number of periodicals than ILP, but only goes back to 1980.

• Also indexes some articles from related non-legal journals.

• Published monthly, cumulated quarterly and annually.

• Articles are indexed in a Subject Index, and Author/Title Index.

• Under each subject, articles are listed chronologically.

• Includes Table of Cases and a Table of Statutes, used in the same way as the ILP (see above).

 Legal Information Management Index

Vol. 1 (1984) to the present

• Indexes English language material on legal information and law librarianship from U.S. and Canadian publications.

• Includes a Key-Word Index, Author Index, and Book Review Index, and lists of abbreviations used.

• The Key-Word Index lists articles alphabetically, using each significant word in the title as an entry. This differs from the subject heading used by other indexes in that only words that are in the title are indexed.

• Published bi-monthly and cumulated annually.

 Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

Vol. 1 (1960) to the present

• Includes periodicals from over 80 countries in both English and foreign languages.

• Foreign titles using Roman alphabet are not translated, but those using different alphabets are translated, and the original language is indicated.

• Subject headings are in English.

• Includes a Subject Index, Author Index, and Book Review Index.

• Includes List of Periodical Titles and List of Title Abbreviations

• Includes Geographical Index listing subject headings under which each country or region is mentioned.

 Index to Periodical Articles Related to Law

1958 to the present 2005 

• Covers periodicals that are not included in CLI, ILP, or IFLP.

• Indexes articles of value to those in the legal professions from non-legal periodicals.

• Indexes new legal periodicals not yet included in other legal periodical indexes.

• Published quarterly, cumulated annually, with additional cumulated volumes covering larger spans of time.

• Include a Subject Index, Author Index, and List of Periodicals Indexed.

• Articles are listed alphabetically under each subject.   

 An Index to Legal Periodical Literature

Vol. 1 (to 1886) –Vol. 18(1925)

• Also known as the Jones-Chipman index.

• Covers periodicals retrospectively across the 1800’s and some even earlier. This is the only index covering this period.

• Covers English language journals (US, UK, Canada).

• Includes List of both Law Periodicals Indexed and General Periodicals containing articles related to law, and List of Abbreviations Used.

• Includes Subject Index and Author Index.

• Subject Index includes biographical articles, where a person’s name may be the subject. Not to be confused with Author Index, which lists authors’ names and page in Subject Index where articles is listed.