University of Wisconsin - Stout

Laws in Wisconsin come from several sources and are recorded in different ways. This guide will help you find state law and local law in the University Library.

Stout Users OnlyLexis Nexis: Academic, provides access to state legal information. Select Legal tab, then Federal & State Cases or Federal & State Codes for Statutory Law.  For help searching see Lexis Nexis Legal Sources Instructions

Introduction to Legal Materials: a Manual for Non-Librarians in Wisconsin is from the Law Librarians Association of Wisconsin, Public Access to Legal Information Committee. This is a comprehensive guide to the federal, state and international legal systems.

Wisconsin Legislator Briefing Book 2007-2008 from the Wisconsin Legislative Council. A handbook in several sections, including, "Legislative Documents and Procedures" and "State Budget Process". It covers the administrative rules process, legislative documents and procedures, budget process, and ethics code.

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (LII 2006 edition) by Peter W. Martin will provide information on proper citation format for legal materials.

STATE LAW

STATUTORY LAW

Sources to Track the Progress of Statutory Law available in the University Library:

  1. Wisconsin Legislative Documents Search Electronically Track the Progress of Statutory Law from 1995 to the present
    • To track the history of each bill and resolution from its inception, select Bill Histories. History includes memos, acts, fiscal estimates and roll calls with each bill and resolution. Page numbers on the right link to electronic versions of State of Wisconsin Assembly and Senate Journals.
    • Current Year's Acts, Bills and Resolutions

  2. Understanding the legislative process:

Statutory law is law enacted by the legislature and embodied in the statutes. The Wisconsin legislature is biennial; each session begins on the first Tuesday after January 8 in the odd-numbered year. Legislative bills and laws are identified with the session during which they were introduced or enacted; e.g. Assembly Bills 2007 (the 2007-2008 session). Statutory law begins life as a bill introduced in the legislature. All bills are numbered, either as AB-xx (Assembly Bill), SB-xx (Senate Bill), AJR or SJR (Joint Resolution). As these bills move through the legislative process, they may attract amendments, fiscal notes or other addenda.

Each house of the legislature publishes, overnight, a journal of its actions for each day it is in session. These journals typically record house elections, committee appointments, measures introduced, measures referred to committee, amendments, motions, votes taken, attendance, and the dates when bills are sent to the governor's office. The Wisconsin Legislative site also has an index to these journals.

The laws created during a legislative session are often called "session" laws. Each is assigned a unique "act" ("chapter" number before 1983) number and is referred to as an act or chapter of the session laws. A private firm also publishes these laws during each session as West's Wisconsin Legislative Service.

After each session, these new laws and the more important joint resolutions are published as Laws of Wisconsin with the date of the beginning of that session. Thus, Laws of Wisconsin 1997 contains the laws enacted by the 1997-98 legislature, along with lists of statutes & session laws affected by biennial legislation.

The state issues a revised edition of the Statutes after each biennial session, incorporating all the general laws then in force and deleting those that have been repealed. Like session laws, they are dated by the most recent legislature to act on them; thus Wisconsin Statutes 2005 is current through the 2005-2006 session. The Statutes are organized into "chapters." UNLIKE session laws, statute chapters include many laws on a common topic. The Statutes also contain several court directories, list of acts repealed, interstate compacts, legislative resolutions, and the constitution.

A private firm also publishes the statutes as West's Wisconsin Statutes Annotated. These duplicate the official statutes but are annotated with history notes, case references, and law review citations. They are also more current, being kept up-to-date with "pocket pamphlets" filed in back of each volume.

REGULATORY LAW

State administrative agencies are authorized to create certain rules and regulations (Statutes, Ch. 27). These are the regulatory laws. The Wisconsin Administrative Code is a loose-leaf compilation of all administrative rules of general interest in effect at a given time. The revisor of statutes periodically reprints and distributes change pages for insertion. The monthly Wisconsin Administrative Register is devoted principally to change in the rules as they are made and also includes notices of hearings and amendments; thus keeping the Code current.

State agencies web pages

CASE LAW

Statutory and regulatory laws are subject to interpretation by the courts. Such interpretations, which have the force of law, constitute case law. Recent Wisconsin Supreme Court or Court of Appeals Decisions can be found on the World Wide Web at WisBar.org - state and federal case law from the State Bar of Wisconsin.

LOCAL LAW

Print Sources Available in the University Library

Each municipality may enact ordinances. In Menomonie, such laws are passed by the City Council and published in the Dunn County News. All ordinances in effect at a given time are contained in the City Code of Menomonie, which is periodically revised with change sheets. League of Wisconsin Municipalities, acts as an information clearinghouse, lobbying organization and legal resource for Wisconsin municipalities.

DIRECTORIES

STATE AND COURT FORMS

WWW SITES

Many additional legal resources are available on the World Wide Web:

STOUT LIBRARY CATALOG

Use the Stout Library Catalog to identify books and audiovisual materials about your topic. Use a keyword guided search. When you have identified a useful item, click on Long View. You can then explore any of the listed subject headings by selecting the link.

WWW Search Engines

The search engines that are available on the WWW vary in depth and coverage. Explore the search options to find relevant WWW sites. For a list of available search engines and WWW directories, e.g. Google or Yahoo, use Searching the Web from the Library Home Page.

Citations

To cite online resources in appropriate bibliographic style see: Citing Resources

To organize citations and create bibliographies and papers in APA, MLA and other styles see: RefWorks and Other Citation Management Tools

Last Updated: 06/13/2008 and Last Revised: 11/09/2007

Contact Denise Madland for more information or help on this topic.