Arkansas in the United States
Arkansas Legal Materials
This entry is organized by the branch of government, followed by a section with Other Useful Information.
I. Legislative Branch
Arkansas laws are codified in the Arkansas Code, posted free by LexisNexis.
The Arkansas General Assembly posts Bills and Resolutions (1999-Present) and Acts(1987-Present).
The Arkansas General Assembly also posts the current Arkansas Constitution in PDF format. The Arkansas Constitution is searchable and browseable as part of the free LexisNexis edition of the Arkansas Code.
To get copies of older legislative materials, see “Copies and Questions” at the end of this entry. For commercial databases, see …
- U.S. State Law: Constitutional
- U.S. State Law: Codes
- U.S. State Law: Statutes
- U.S. State Legislative: Bills
Bill status: You can check the status of pending legislation by looking up the bill on theGeneral Assembly Web site. For questions about pending legislation, call either the House or Representatives (501-682-6211 during the session; 501-682-7771 out-of-session) or the Senate (501-682-2902 during the session; 501-682-6107 out-of-session).
Legislative History: For information about Arkansas legislative history materials seeArkansas Legislative History Research Guide by Kathryn C. Fitzhugh and/or “Using Legislative History in Arkansas to Determine Legislative Intent: An Examination of Cases and Review of the Sources,” 32 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 285 (Spring, 2010), by Kathryn C. Fitzhugh and Melissa M. Serfass. See also the entry for State Legislative History.
II. Executive Branch
Agencies and Offices: This list of Arkansas State Agencies links to each agency’s web site. Click on “Details” to addresses and phone numbers.
Regulations: Arkansas regulations (“Rules”) are published officially in the Arkansas Register (posted free 2001-present). The Arkansas Secretary of State provides a Rules Search that covers rules enacted since 2002.
Arkansas regulations are codified The Code of Arkansas Rules, published in print by LexisNexis (formerly Weil). Online editions are available on Lexis and Westlaw.
III. Judicial Branch
The Arkansas Judiciary posts the opinions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals from 1996 to the present. You can search Supreme and Court of Appeals opinions from about 1950 to the present with Google Scholar. For additional databases see State Cases.
The Arkansas Judiciary also posts court rules and administrative orders, forms, a directory of court addresses and phone numbers plus a database of attorneys licensed to practice in Arkansas.
Docket Sheets and Case Information: The Arkansas Judiciary’s Docket Searchprovides case information for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases.CourtConnect covers Circuit Court for several counties. Legal Dockets Online links to additional free sources. For commercial databases see the Docket Sheets entry in this Guide.
IV. Other Useful Information
Corporations and Other Business Entities: The Secretary of State provides a database of business entities that includes Corporations, LLCs, LLPs, cooperatives, banks and insurance companies. See also the entry for Secretary of State Records.
Copies and Questions: For copies of and questions about Arkansas legal materials, contact the Bowen School of Law Library/Pulaski County Law Library at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock(501-324-9991 for copies, 501-324-9444 for questions) or theYoung Law Library at the University of Arkansas at Fayeteville (479-575-5834). For government documents, contact the Arkansas State Library (501-324-9991).
Legal Research Guides: See Arkansas Legal Research (Carolina Academic Press, 2007) by Coleen M. Barger. You might also want to look at Kathryn R. Fitzhugh’s “Arkansas Practice Materials II: A Selective Annotated Bibliography,” 21 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 363 (1999).
UCC Filings: The Secretary of State posts a UCC filings database. You need to subscribe to use the system. There is a moderate annual fee, and additional charges for use are billed to a credit card. For other options, see the “Filing Records” section of the Uniform Commercial Code entry.
Note: We linked the resources to archive.org in an effort to decrease the number of broken links cited.
For more primary law resources, see …
- U.S. State Cases
- U.S. State Law: Judicial Rules
- U.S. State Law: Executive & Administrative
- U.S. State Law: Municipal
Topics Covered by the Arkansas Legal Encyclopedia
Note: More detailed information about this State is provided in the Arkansas jurisdictional legal Encyclopedia, which tie together Arkansas statutory and case law.
Topics include:
- Arkansas Statutes
- AR Cases & Case Law
- Arkansas Legal Websites
- AR State Government Info
- Arkansas Counties
- Arkansas Cities
- Arkansas Legislation
- AR Court Reporters/Depositions
- Arkansas Legal Forms
- Arkansas Courts
- AR State Bar/Legal Associations
- Arkansas Law Enforcement
- Arkansas Media Sources
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