CHAPTER 3

ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH

DATABASES
Chap. 3—Online Legal Research Databases

Computerized legal databases are not new, however the increasing popularity of
the Internet has made them more accessible to lawyers, students and lay people alike.
Several big book publishers have engaged in managing online commercial legal
databases through subscription basis. These venders may be classified further in two
categories according to coverage area i.e. International & National.

3.1 INTERNATIONAL ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

3.1.1 Westlaw International

3.1.2 HeinOnline
3.1.3 LexisNexis
3.1.4 JSTOR
3.1.5 E-Hart
3.1.1 Westlaw International
Westlaw International is online research service, providing legal professionals
with legal, news and business information from around the world. It provides laws
and legal information from another country or international information for legal
researchers, law students, and lawyers for their practice area.
Westlaw International is a password based and IP address based online legal
research database. Highlights of coverage of materials in Westlaw International are
as under:
Cases
— United Kingdom from 1865
— United States (Federal & State) from 1658

25
26 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

— European Union from 1952

— Australia from 1903
— Hong Kong from 1905
— Canada from 1825
Statutes
— United Kingdom Statutes from 1267 (fully consolidated)
— United States Code (fully annotated)
— Comprehensive European Union Legislation
— Hong Kong Legislation from 1997
— Canada Legislation (fully consolidated
Over 1,000 Journals and Law Reviews including
— Harvard Law Review
— European Competition Law Review
— Criminal Law Review
— McGill Law Review
— Melbourne University Law Review
— Hong Kong Law Journal
News
— New York Times
— Financial Times
— Thomson Financial News
— AP Newswires
— Economist
— Transcripts from major news channels

Picture1: Home Page of Westlaw International Search Engine

 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES 27

3.1.2 Hein Online

HeinOnline is product with more than 50 million pages of legal history available in
an online, fully-searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline provides comprehensive
coverage from inception of nearly 1,300 law and law-related periodicals. In addition to
its collection of law journals, HeinOnline also contains the Congressional Record
Bound volumes in entirety, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754,
famous world trials dating back to the early 1700’s, legal classics from the 18th & 19th
centuries, the United Nations and League of Nations Treaty Series, all United States
Treaties, the Federal Register from inception in 1936, the CFR from inception in 1938.
Now, in more than 3,200 locations in over 150 countries, HeinOnline is the world’s
largest image-based legal research collection and contains more than 9 centuries of
legal history. HeinOnline is a product of William S. Hein & Co.
The Law Journal Library in HeinOnline is a collection of nearly 1,300 law and law-
related periodicals. Coverage is from the first issue published for all periodicals and
goes through the most currently published issued allowed, based on contracts with
publishers. More than 1,400 works from some of the greatest legal minds in history can
be found in HeinOnline’s Legal Classics collection. In addition to many “classics,” this
collection also includes rare items that are found in only a handful of libraries around
the World. Besides the databases also covers the following information.
 United States Code (U.S.C.)
 U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
 U.S. Presidential Library
 U.S. Supreme Court Library
 U.S. Official Reports (Bound volumes)
 English Reports, Full Reprint (1220-1867)
 Federal Register /Code of Federal Regulations
 Treaties and Agreements Library

Picture2: Home Page of HeinOnline

28 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

3.1.3 LexisNexis
LexisNexis® Academic is a service for researching news, business, and legal topics. It
contains more than 6,000 sources from all over the world, drawn from print, broadcast,
and online media. Topical indexing and powerful search features help to find exactly the
information in need. LexisNexis® legal materials and Shepard's® Citations are
recognized as the standard for legal research and are required topics in law schools
throughout the U.S. & world. LexisNexis includes:

News, current events, and commentary
 Newspapers and new magazines, including major publications from
the U.S. and around the world and local publications from all 50
states
 TV and radio broadcast transcripts
 Wire services
 Blogs and web-based publications
 Subject indexing to take you right to editorials, critical reviews,
science, business, sports and other news categories

Business
 Business news and analysis publications
 Industry and market news for sectors ranging from petroleum
extraction to education
 Company information, including SEC filings and company profiles
 Country profiles and business conditions

Legal
 Law reviews and journals
 U.S. case law, including case summaries, headnotes, and Shepard's
Citations for all federal and state courts
 U.S. statutes
 Canadian and European case law and legal materials

Picture3: Search Page of LexisNexis Academic

 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES 29

3.1.4 JSTOR (Journal Store)

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students
discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We
use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new
forms of scholarship. JSTOR offers a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive to
support scholarship and teaching. It includes archives of over one thousand leading
academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as
select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. The entire corpus
is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images,
and is interlinked by millions of citations and references. JSTOR provides its
collection in eight modules as under:

Arts & Sciences I
Established in 1997, JSTOR's first collection includes core journals in
economics, history, political science, and sociology, as well as in other key
fields in the humanities and social sciences. This collection also contains
titles in ecology, mathematics, and statistics. Overall, there are 119 titles in
twenty-one disciplines.

Arts & Sciences II
The Arts & Sciences II Collection is home to 127 titles. This collection adds
depth to many disciplines introduced in Arts & Sciences I, such as
economics, history, and Asian studies. Arts & Sciences II also offers core
journals in several new disciplines, such as archaeology, classics, and
African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Slavic studies.

Arts & Sciences III
Arts & Sciences III includes journals in languages and literature, as well as
essential titles in the fields of music, film studies, folklore, performing arts,
religion, and the history and study of art and architecture. There are 151
titles in this collection.

Arts & Sciences IV
This collection has a strong focus on the professions of business, education,
and law, and also includes titles in psychology and public policy and
administration. There are 112 titles in this collection.

Arts & Sciences V
This collection builds on previously introduced disciplines, adding important
literary reviews and state historical journals. It will also widen the scope of
core disciplines in the arts and humanities, such as philosophy, history,
classics, religion, art and art history, and language and literature. When
complete, the collection will number at least 120 titles.
30 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

Arts & Sciences VI (completed by end of 2010)

With a minimum of 120 titles, the Arts & Sciences VI Collection will extend
JSTOR's coverage in disciplines across the social sciences, with clusters
focused in economics, education, linguistics, political science, and area
studies.

Arts & Sciences VII
With over 180 titles across thirty-five disciplines, the Arts & Sciences VII
Collection includes more journals in more disciplines than any other JSTOR
collection. Its eclectic range of disciplines in the arts, humanities, and social
sciences complements research in core disciplines such as history, political
science, sociology, art and art history, and language and literature, and the
collection represents the largest cluster of health policy titles in JSTOR.

Arts & Sciences VIII
The Arts & Sciences VIII Collection will broaden JSTOR's coverage of core
humanities disciplines including history, language & literature, art & art
history, and education. Included in this set will be a group of rare 19th and
early 20th century American Art periodicals digitized as part of a special
project undertaken with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick
Collection, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. With a minimum of 140 titles
by its completion in 2011, this collection will also include journals in
philosophy, classical studies, and music.

Picture 4: Home Page of JSTOR

3.1.5 E-HART BOOKS PUBLISHING

E-Hart Book publishing is an online database providing books published by eHart
Book Publishers. Library may choose selected book titles through one time
subscription fee. Being an IP based database, students, faculty members and research
 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES 31

scholars may browse full book within Intranet. Library may add further titles by
paying additional subscription.

Picture 5: Home Page of E-Hart Books

3.2 National (Indian) Online Legal Research Databases

3.2.1 Manupatra
3.2.2 Indlaw
3.2.3 SCC Online
3.2.4 AIR SC & High Courts
3.2.5 AIR Criminal Law Journal
3.2.6 Corporate Law Advisor
3.2.1 Manupatra
Manupatra.com is India’s most comprehensive online legal & business policy
database. Manupatra revolutionized the way in which people do legal researches in
India. Since its beginning in 2001, has come an online research tool for legal research
in India. Manupatra is the only legal publishing database with presence in all three
segments of Print, CD Rom publishing & online publishing. It covers the following
legal information.
1. Judgments Includes Supreme Court of India, High Courts, Tribunals etc.
2. Commission & Committee Reports
3. Gazette Notifications & Circulars
4. Bare Acts, Rules & Regulations
5. Ordinance & Pending Bills
32 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

6. Legal materials on Subject Based Research

Manupatra have a multi-disciplinary search engine containing several search
modules.
1. Manu Search (For full text open search)
2. Legal Search (For Topical, Party wise, Subject wise)
3. Citation Search
4. Act Search
Manupatra may be called National Westlaw for Indian legal commercial database.
It covers mostly all legal information required by a layman or a legal research
scholar. The salient feature of Manupatra may be found as under:
1. Search of Case Law on a particular subject from all over High Courts and
Supreme Court of India in a single search.
2. Search of a Case Law delivered by a Judge out of any court of the
judicature.
3. Facility to concise search through choosing particular court.
4. Subordinate Legislation also available along with Central Legislation.
5. Commission & Committee Reports are also available.

Picture 6: Index Page of Manupatra Online

3.2.2 Indlaw
INDLAW is a business-to-business Internet provider of research modules relating
to Indian legal, tax, business and regulatory issues. Indlaw is part of the Indian law
online project which was launched in April 1997 as a collaborative exercise between
professionals and academicians based in U.K. and in India to build an electronic legal
library to enable solicitors, advocates, students and clients to have access to
information on various primary and secondary legal documents like the constitutional
texts, parliamentary debates, case law, Parliamentary and State enactments and
delegated legislation in both India and the U.K. Indlaw is today a leading provider of
easy-to-use comprehensive and cost-effective legal, tax and regulatory information
 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES 33

on the Internet. Rating agencies like Alexa have confirmed that Indlaw is the most
trafficked Indian legal and regulatory resource base online.
Indlaw caters to the needs of every professional, whether he is a lawyer, chartered
accountant, company secretary, management consultant, director or an entrepreneur.
Indlaw ensures that you are aware of the latest changes in the legal and policy framework
faster than from any other source. Indlaw's legal databases include Case Laws,
Legislation, Rules, Notifications, Circulars, Trade Notices, Practice Directions, Forms,
Reports and Proceedings, FAQs, Indlaw Articles, News and PressNotes.

Picture 7: Home Page of Indlaw

3.2.3 SCCOnline
The Law Library may provide Supreme Court Cases online with the help of SCC
Online commercial software. A case may be searched by General Search, Topical
Search (subject based), Case Index (Nominal Search) and Find by Citation. The
latest judgments may be downloaded though internet with the help of SCC Online
Search Engine.

Picture 8: Front Page of SCC Online

3.2.4 AIR Supreme Court/High Courts
AIR Supreme Court Software containing data covering a period from 1950 till
2008. The Software has the Full text from both the AIR Supreme Court as well as
34 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

from AIR SCW. This adds upto 38000 judgments. More than 173 Hon’ble Supreme
Court Judges have rendered valuable Judgments which cover more than 700
designated Topics and 4300 Subjects/Statutes of Central and State Legislation. The
Software is easy to install, use and customer friendly, and also conforms to
international standards & norms.
The AIR High Court Software contains data of 22 High Courts 1965 till 2009.
This data contains approximately 52,000 judgments in over Two Lakh Pages,
delivered by over 3800 Hon’ble High Courts Court Judges on 5042 Statutes/Acts
covering over 550 Sub-edited Topics. The Software is easy to install, use and
customer friendly, keeping in view International Standards and norms. This Data is
the store-house of decisions on various Topics and Subjects including Central and
State Legislations from across the country.
 Nominal Index
 Subject Index,
 Topical Index,
 Judges Index,
 Remarks Index (LIST of OVERRULED, DISSENTED, REVERSED,
FOLLOWED,)
 Head Note,
 Topic, Phrases,
 Citation - Page No.
 Subject/Act along with its Provision,
 Nominal

Picture 9: Front Page of AIR Supreme Court

3.2.5 Criminal Law Journals

Criminal Law Journal Software contains data of various High Court and Supreme
Court decisions besides decisions of Foreign Courts from 1960 till 2009. This data
 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES 35

containing approximately 33,000 judgments of which 25,000 Decisions on Three

Major Acts in over One Lakh Twenty Three Thousand pages covering 1622
Statutes/Acts of Central and State legislation having Cognizable and Non-Cognizable
offences. The Software is easy to install, use and customer friendly, keeping in view
International Standards and norms. This Data is extremely useful for Prosecutors and
the Bench & Bar especially at the lowest strata of the judicial system. Some
sensational and land mark decisions on Criminal Law are available in this data base.
There is a Comparative Table of Old and New Statutes for ready reference.
Moreover, Criminal Law Journal is the oldest running journal in the sub-continent on
any specialized field.

Picture 10: Index Page of Criminal Law Journals

3.2.6 Corporate Law Advisor Plus

Corporate Law Advisor Plus is a product of Corporate Law Advisor Limited (Jus
Scriptum). It provides digital contents of Corporate Law Advisor a corporate
magazine along with Business Law Supplement. CLA Plus in short form, covers all
volumes since its inception of both Corporate Law Advisor and Business Law
Supplement. The following searches have been provided.
 Article Search
 Case Law Search
 Notification Search
 Circulars Search
 Acts Search
 Rules Search
 Regulations Search
36 CHAP. 3—ONLINE LEGAL RESEARCH DATABASES

Picture 11: Home Page of CLA Plus