U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library in the United States

The (formerly) U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library was a huge collection of link, used as a free online resource for legal research, specially for students to begin their research. Created in 1995 by the U.S. House of Representatives’ House Information Resources, as part of the Counsel’s mission to make the law (particularly the U.S. Code) available to the public, the law library also benefited from the contributions of dozens of organizations and individuals. It main aim was to “provide free public access to the basic documents of U.S. law”.

The Internet Law Library existed for 5 years

The site was originally developed and maintained by House Information Resources under the direction of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.

For five years, the Internet Law Library, developed and published by the United States House of Representatives Office of Law Revision Counsel, was an important Internet legal knowledge resource. It was one of the handful of recognized legal hugue sites on the Web. On May 28, the House site ceased operations. The House redirected visitors to successor sites for a time. Successor sites should make it clear to visitors that the Internet Law Library was no longer being edited or published by the U.S. House of Representatives Law Revision Counsel.

One of the Top Legal Online Sites

Burgess Allison, noted Law Practice Management legal technology columnist and author of “legal Internet resource, The Lawyer’s Guide to the Internet”, named the Internet Law Library as one of his two favorite Law-Related Starting Points on the Internet: “The House gopher and Web servers made news [in 1994] as politicians scrambled to take credit for making the full text of pending legislation and congressional testimony available online. For me, though, the real gem of the site … is the Law Library…. As you might guess, it’s especially strong for federal legal resources, but the coverage … extends well beyond the federal sector — the site is comprehensive and well laid out.”

Nearly 20,000 web pages linked to the Internet Law Library.

Subject Pages

Agriculture and the Law
Alternative Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, and Mediation
Animals, Legal Treatment of
Antitrust and Monopoly Law
Attorney and Legal Profession Directories
Banking Law
Bankruptcy and Debt Collection Law
Budget
Business, Finance, Economic, and Consumer Protection Laws
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: Gender
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: General
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: Indigenous Peoples
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: Religion and Government
Code of Federal Regulations
Communications Law
Computers and the Law
Confederate States of America
Congressional Record
Constitution of the United States
Corporations, Partnerships, and Business Associations
Crime, Law Enforcement and Prisons: Sentencing and Parole
Crime, Law Enforcement, and Prisons: General
Domestic Relations: Children
Domestic Relations: General
Domestic Relations: Marriage and Divorce
Drafting, Legislative and Legal
Education and the Law
Election, Quantification, Removal, and Lobbying of Public Officials
Employment, Labor, and Pension Law
Environmental, Natural Resource and Energy Law
European Law
Evidence and Procedural Law
Federal Court Decisions and Rules
Federal Register
Federalist Papers, Declaration of Independence, and Other Early Writings of the Republic
GAO Reports
Gun Control and Bearing Arms
Handicapped Individuals and the Law
Health and Safety Laws
Hearings of Congressional Committees
House and Senate Documents
Immigration, Nationality, and Citizenship Law
Insurance Law
Intellectual Property: Copyrights
Intellectual Property: General
Intellectual Property: Patents
Intellectual Property: Trademarks
Land Use, Zoning, Real Property, and Historical Preservation Law
Landlord/Tenant Law
Law Book Publishers and Reviews
Law Schools and Law Libraries
Laws of All Jurisdictions (Arranged by Subject)
Laws of Other Nations
Legislation
Model Acts and Interstate Competitors
Presidential Documents
Privacy and Information Access
Property
Reports of the House and Senate
Rules of the House and Senate
Search and Seizure
Securities and Investment Laws
Statutes
Taxation
Tort Law
Transportation and Admirality Law
Treaties and International Law
Trusts and Estates
U.S. Federal Laws (by Agency)
U.S. Federal Laws (by Source)
U.S. State and Territorial Laws
War, National Defense, and the Armed Services

Acknowledgements of the Law Revision Counsel (through April 22, 1999)

“The Internet Law Library is the work of many hands. While criticisms should be addressed as indicated above, a special thanks should go to the folks at Personal Library Service, Inc. (PLS) for allowing us to house the Law Library on their machine for all of calendar year 1995 when the Law Library was still a demonstration project. Also, a grateful thanks is extended to the participants in the following listservs, who have played a key part in identifying the material that now makes up much of the Library:

AIL-L (artificial intelligence and law)
AIROLIX (Internet Resources of Legal Interest Exchange)
ALAWON (American Library Association Washington Office Newsletter)
AnaheimEdProg (American Association of Law Libraries Convention)
ANZ-Law-Librarians-One (Australia and New Zealand Law Librarians List)
Assoc-L (Associates: Electronic Library Support Staff Journal)
BayouDoc (Bayou Area Government Documents Discussion Group)
BMR-L (Bryn Mawr Classical Review and Bryn Mawr Medieval Review)
CalDoc-L (California Depository Library Government Documents List)
CALL-L (Canadian Association of Law Libraries List)
CCNotify (Constitutional Court decisions of South Africa notification)
CNI-PubInfo (Coalition for Networked Information, Access to Public Information Working Group)
CoGoPub-L (Colorado Government Documents List)
ComLaw-L (computers and legal education)
Computer Law Report
ComputerSupport-Law (computers in law schools)
COSELL-L (Consortium of Southeastern Law Libraries List)
Counterserve (Counterpoint Publishing Company)
Court-Web-L (court WWW services)
CTI-Law (computers and legal education)
Derecho (law resources on the Internet, primarily in Spanish)
Digital Dispatch (c|net weekly newsletter)
DoxNJ (New Jersey Government Documents Forum)
EdPolyAr (Education Policy Analysis Archives)
EDUPAGE (information technology news from the EDUCOM (now EDUCAUSE) consortium of colleges and universities)
EFF’s Guide to the Internet updates (formerly The Big Dummy’s Guide to the Internet updates)
ELaw-J (Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law)
EPA Internet Newsbrief
Euro-Lex (All EUROpean Legal Information EXchange List)
FedLib-L (Federal Library and Information Center Committee’s FEDLINK Library Network News)
FedRef-L (Federal Reference Librarians Discussion List)
FlaDocs (Southeast Documents Librarians)
FutureNet updates
GILS (Government Information Locator Service)
Global Information Infrastructure Awards
GovDoc-L (Federal Depository Library Government Document Issues)
GovPub (local and state government information on the Internet)
GPLLA-L (Greater Philadelphia Law Library Association)
Gutnberg (Project Gutenberg)
HALL-L (Houston Area Law Librarians List)
High Court of Australia Email Judgement Service
Hungary-Report
Idea-Hampster (Internet ideas)
Illinois Court Reports Summaries
IMall-L (Internet Mall updates)
Info-Policy-Notes (Taxpayer Assets Project)
Internet Legal Practice Newsletter
Internet-on-a-Disk (public domain electronic documents)
Int-Law (international law)
IPress (electronic journals about the Internet)
IslandPress-L (Island Press and Eco-Compass ecological newsletter)
Java World e-mail alert
JOL (Journal of Online Law)
juriNet-L (University of Montreal Law School Internet services)
JustInfo (Justice Information Electronic Newsletter)
Law-Europe (European Law)
Law-France (practice of law in France)
LawJobs-L (law job postings)
Law-Lib (law libraries and librarians)
LawLibRef-L (law library reference questions and issues)
Law-Public (Public and Constitutional Law)
Lawsrc-L (Internet resources on law)
Law-Tag (hypertext legal materials)
Law-WWW (U.K. law academia and the World Wide Web)
LEA (Law and Economics Abstracts)
Legal-Listowners (administration of law-related listservs)
Legal-Webmasters (administration of law-related World Wide Web services)
LIIBulletin (Legal Information Institute Bulletin — summaries of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions)
LII Bulletin-NY (Legal Information Institute New York Bulletin — summaries of recent New York Court of Appeals decisions)
LIS-Law (EEC and UK legal information sources)
LLNE (Law Librarians of New England and Association of Boston Law Librarians)
LLSDC (Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C.)
MichALL (Michigan Association of Law Librarians)
MN-Govt (Minnesota Information Policy Office announcements)
NBNews Editors Choice Awards (formerly NBNSOFT Content Awards Ejournal)
NCC-Gopher-News (National Cancer Center (Tokyo) gopher announcements)
NetGuide Now! (new services on the Internet)
Net-Happenings (new items on the Internet)
Net-Lawyers (Internet in the practice of law)
Netscape World e-mail alert
Netsurfer Digest (NS-Digest)
NetWatchers Cyberzine (legal developments in cyberspace)
New_FedWeb_List (Federal Webmasters list)
New York State Education Department Office of Telecommunications Policy, Analysis and Development gopher announcements
NNews (Network News — library and information resources on the Internet)
NoCALL-L (Northern California Association of Law Libraries List)
NYSDoc (New York State Documents Discussion Group)
Private LawLib-L (private, state and county law libraries)
RareGems (thought provokers)
RLGLaw-L (Research Libraries Group law library list)
Runeberg-List (Project Runeberg)
SAGAR-Journal (South Asia Graduate Research Journal)
SCALL-List (Southern California Association of Law Libraries)
Scout-Report (information sources on the Internet)
SeAALL-L (Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries List)
SNELLA-lib (Southern New England Law Librarians’ Association)
Sofcom Newsletter
Squib (Counsel Connect electronic newsletter)
SWALL-L (Southwestern Association of Law Libraries List)
TechLink (news about CMP Publishing’s TechWeb server)
TLTP-LawOfScotland (Law Courseware Consortium of Scotland)
TXDXN-L (Texas Documents Information Network)
UK Index Mailing List
UNT-LPBR (Law and Politics Book Review)
Weekly Bookmark
WestPac-L (Western Pacific Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries)
ZD Net Update (Ziff-Davis Internet newsletter)

Thanks are also extended to the contributors to the following print publications who provided design suggestions as well as identifying some of the material that now makes up the Library:

American Photo
AmLaw Tech
Boardwatch
Business 2.0 (formerly net (Image Publishing, Inc.))
Byte
Connect (absorbed by .net)
Creating Killer Web Sites: The Art of Third-Generation Site Design by David Siegel
Cybernautics Digest
CyberSurfer
Databased Web Advisor (absorbed by e-Business Advisor)
Dr. Dobb’s Sourcebook
Educational Program Handout Materials (American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting)
Environment & Internet
How to Use the Internet for Legal Research by Josh Blackman
HTML Sourcebook by Ian S. Graham
Info To Go
Internet
Internet Business (formerly Internet Computing and formerly ZD Internet)(absorbed by other Ziff-Davis products)
Internet Connection
Internet, Java, & ActiveX Advisor (formerly Internet Advisor and formerly Internet & Java Advisor) (absorbed by e-Business Advisor)
Internet Law Researcher
Internet for Lawyers: A Workshop (Legal Times and Counsel Connect)
Internet Lawyer
Internet Newsletter: Legal & Business Aspects
Internet Today (formerly Internet and Comms Today) (absorbed by Practical Internet and Internet Access Made Easy)
Internet Underground (out of print)
Internet User (absorbed by other Ziff-Davis publications)
Internet Voyager
Internet Week (CMP)
Internet Week (Phillips) (now ISP Business News)
Internet World (weekly edition) (formerly Web Week and the monthly edition of Internet World)
Java Developers’ Journal
Java in a Nutshell by David Flanagan
Java Report
Java Unleashed by Michael Morrison et al
Law Practice Management
Law Technology Product News
Lawyer’s Guide to the Internet by G. Burgess Allison
Leader’s Legal Tech Newsletter
Legal Information ALERT
legal.online
Legal Resources via the Internet
Marketing Your Law Firm on the Internet by Josh Blackman
Microsoft Visual J++ Informant (formerly Web Informant) (absorbed Web Publisher)
.net (Future Publishing Ltd.)
.net Directory (absorbed by Connect, which was subsequently absorbed by .net)
NetGuide (absorbed by Windows Magazine)
NetLife (out of print)
NetUser (absorbed by other publications from Paragon Publications)
NetVote by Ben Greenman and Kristin Miller
New Media
Online Access (out of print)
OnTheInternet
PC Computing
Pocket Tour of Law on the Internet by Michael Gross
Proceedings of the Annual Federal Depository Library Conference
Programming Perl by Larry Wall and Randal L. Schwartz
Serving the Web by Robert Jon Murdy
Sys Admin
Techshow: The Convergence of Technology and the Legal Profession (American Bar Association)
Using JavaScript by Mark C. Reynolds et al
Virtual City (out of print)
Web (absorbed by Wired)
Web Developer (absorbed by Internet World)
WebMaster (replaced by CIO WebBusiness)
Web Now (formerly I-way) (absorbed by Practical Windows)
WebServer
Web Shopper 2000 (out of print)
Websight (out of print)
WEBsmith (absorbed by Linux Journal)
Web Techniques
Women’space
World Wide Web Directory (absorbed by other publications from Paragon Publishing publications)
Writing Java Applets by John Rodley
Yahoo! Internet Life (formerly ZD Internet Life)

Thanks to the folks at WebTechs for providing free access to their HTML Validation Service.

Thanks to Stephen Turner for providing free access to his Analog WWW server log analysis software.

Thanks to Gerald Oskoboiny for providing free access to his lynx-me Lynx validator.

Thanks to the folks at SafeSurf, the Recreational Software Advisory Council, and Vancouver Web Pages for providing free acces to their PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection) label generators.

Thanks to NetMechanic for providing free access to their GIFBot image optimizer.

Thanks also to Aland Anderson (Alan Anderson Stamp Store), Joaquim Baptista (New University of Lisbon), John Beck (InReference, Inc.), Clayton L. Coleman (Coleman Electronic Services), Marios D. Dikaikos (University of Cyprus), Jan Oskar Engene (contributor to the FOTW Flags of the World website), the Flag Institute, Royal Frazier (INTERcoNnEcTions), Mario Frick (Liechtenstein News), Gopi Garge, GeoCities, Gibson Grafx, Howard W. Gordon (American Immigration Lawyers Association), Philip Greenspan, Bill Haddican (University of Guadalajara), Richard Hudson (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Public Information Office, Brian Lieb (Wyoming State Government), Gregory Luneau (Internet Solutions, Inc.), Fabian Martinez (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador), Emmanuel Martinoli (Association de soutien a un referendum libre et regulier au Sahara occidental), Warren McCall (British Columbia Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture), Daeron Meyer (Center for the Computation and Visualization of Geometric Structures at the University of Minnesota), Hany Negib, Steven E. Pinson (Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Fish and Game Division), Marko Puljic (Napredak On-Line), Slaven Radic (ArtArtArt Directory), Randy D. Ralph (Guilford Technical Community College), Mitch Rice, Dara Sales, Gerry Seager (Penny Hill Press), Mark Sensen (contributor to the FOTW Flags of the World website), Sonya Shooshan (and her colleages at the National Criminal Justice Reference Service), David Siegel (verso), Art Sorensen (Government of the Northwest Territories of Canada), Sean Sweeney (International Gallery of Art), Anthony Thyssen (Griffith University), Horace Vallas (hav.Software), Christopher J. S. Vance (Australian Defense Forces Academy), and Dan Umstead (Oneida Indian Nation) for giving permission to use images from their Internet servers.

Thanks to the U.S. Naval Observatory Directorate of Time for access to their Running Master Clock.

Thanks to A1C Richard Harris, webmaster of Bolling Air Force Base for permission to use the U.S. Air Force Band rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner (838 kilobytes).

And last, but certainly not least, thank you to The Lawyers’ Guide to the Internet, The Internet Lawyer, the Regan/Davey Survey, legal.online, Point Survey, Law Practice Management, Lycos, Environment & Internet, the Magellan Internet Guide, NBNSOFT, the Scout Report, Law Information ALERT, the A#1 Quality Directory, Internet Law Researcher, Net Guide, Law Resources via the Internet, Virtuocity, Infoseek Guide, Yahoo! Internet Life, the WWWorld Ribbon Award, WebCrawler, Excite, the NetGiver Award, Lunar Law Links, Eye on the Web, RaD Graphics and Web Designs, BPEG, Walking the Internet, LionArt Productions, Online Access, A Pocket Tour of Law on the Internet, PC Novice Guide to the Web, CyberHound’s Web Guide, Microsoft Bookshelf Internet Directory, Great American Web Book, How to Use the Internet for Legal Research, the National Information Infrastructure Awards Program, the Horizon Awards, DePaul University Libraries, The Internet Newsletter: Legal & Business Aspects, the Médaille d’Or for Web Site Excellence, Washington Web, The Legal List: Research on the Internet, the Law Library of Congress, Leflaw, and the Quiet Revolution 5-Star Awards Committee for their words of encouragement.”

Note

Many of the links referenced by the Internet Law Library resided on servers outside the control of the House of Representatives. The same happens with the successor sites.