skip to main |
skip to sidebar
FEDERAL
A. Statutes, Bills and Legislative History
Statutes:
U.S. Code: United States Code Search
- uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml
- searchable via keyword or Title browse
Bills & Legislative History:
Library of Congress: THOMAS
- thomas.loc.gov/
- Coverage back to mid-1980's
B. Regulations and Agencies
Regulations:
Code of Federal Regulations
- www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html
- searchable via either keyword or individual Title
Federal Register
- www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
- searchable via keyword, date or browsing
Agencies:
United States Government Agencies: USA.gov
- www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml
- index of links to federal agencies
Executive Branch
- www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Executive.shtml
Judicial Branch
- www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Judicial.shtml
Legislative Branch
- www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml
C. Court Opinions, Forms, Rules and Dockets
Emory Law School Federal Courts Finder
- www.law.emory.edu/cms/site/index.php?id=2997
Supreme Court of the United States
- Official site: www.supremecourtus.gov/
- Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute: http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/index.html
- Oyez.org Supreme Court Media
United States Courts of Appeals
- 1st Circuit
- 2nd Circuit
- 3rd Circuit
- 4th Circuit
- 5th Circuit
- 6th Circuit
- 7th Circuit
- 8th Circuit
- 9th Circuit
- 10th Circuit
- 11th Circuit
- Federal Circuit
- D.C. Circuit
- Tip: official sites follow the following format - www.ca1.uscourts.gov/- changing the court identifier as appropriate, e.g. ca9, cadc, cafc.
United States District Courts
- Northern District of Texas
- Tip: official sites, use the following format - www.txnd.uscourts.gov/- changing the court identifier as appropriate, e.g. txnd, msnd, waed
Dockets
- PACER Service
- requires registration
- not free, but inexpensive
D. General Federal Sources
Google's Uncle Sam
- www.google.com/unclesam
- Google search limited to government sites
FedWorld.gov
- www.fedworld.gov/
- gateway to federal information
STATE
American Law Sources On-Line (Texas)
- http://www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?tx
- the "Swiss Army knife" of Texas law
A. Statutes, Bills Legislative History
Statutes:
Texas Statutes
- tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/statutes.html
Bills and Legislative History:
Texas Legislature OnLine
- www.capitol.state.tx.us/
- coverage back to 1989
B. Regulations and Agencies
Regulations:
Texas Administrative Code
- info.sos.state.tx.us/pls/pub/readtac$ext.viewtac
Texas Register
- texinfo.library.unt.edu/texasregister/
- searchable via either keyword or browsing
Agencies:
TRAIL List
- www2.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/agencies.jsp
C. Court Opinions, Forms, Rules and Dockets
Texas Courts
- www.courts.state.tx.us/
- Court of Appeals and Supreme Court opinions, forms, rules and dockets available via the individual courts' sites linked here. Lower jurisdiction courts are a mixed bag.
A. Public Records -- General Sources
Public Records Online Directory
- www.netronline.com/public_records.htm
- links to public record resources
SearchSystems
- www.searchsystems.net
- directory of services (free and for-fee)
Craig Ball directory
- craigball.com/hotlinks.html
- many links to public records
BlackBookOnline
- www.blackbookonline.info/
- Links to investigative tools
B. Professional Licenses
1. Texas
Texas Dept. of Licensing and Regulation
- www.license.state.tx.us
Texas Licensing Boards
- www.brbpub.com/pubrecsitesOcc.asp?st=TX
- links to Texas agencies
2. Multistate
North Am. Directory of Regulatory Boards and Colleges
- www.clearhq.org/boards.htm
- directory of professional licensing agencies
- U.S. and Canada
BRB Directory
- www.brbpub.com/pubrecsitesOccStates.asp
- directory of licensing boards
American Board of Medical Specialities
- www.abms.org
- search certifications of doctors
- free registration required
C. Criminal Records
1. Texas
Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Records Service
- records.txdps.state.tx.us/dps_web/Portal/index.aspx
- free access to the Texas Sex Offender Registry
- fee charged to access Criminal History Conviction Database
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Offender Information Search
- 168.51.178.33/webapp/TDCJ/index2.htm
- offenders currently incarcerated in Texas prisons
State and Local Government on the Net
- http://www.statelocalgov.net/index.cfm
- search by jurisdiction or under the topic page for "Public Safety"
Dallas County
-dallascounty.org/applications/english/record-search/intro.html
2. Federal
Department of Justice National Sex Offender Registry
- www.nsopr.gov/
Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator
- www.bop.gov/
- data on federal inmates currently incarcerated or released since 1982
PACER U.S. Case / Party Index
- pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov/
- searchable by criminal cases only
3. Other states and international
Virtual Chase Criminal Records
- www.virtualchase.com/topics/criminal_records.shtml
- Links to available criminal records searches at the state, federal, and international levels
D. Vital Statistics: Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce Records
1. Texas
Birth Certificates: www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/default.shtm
- records available from 1903 to present
- records less than 75 years old require a signed notarized release from the person of record or immediate family member
Death Records: www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/default.shtm
- records available 1903-current
- records less than 25 years old require a release from immediate family member.
Marriage records: www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/default.shtm
- records available from 1966 to present
- state will only supply a verification; copies must be obtained from the county.
2. Tarrant and Dallas County
Tarrant County marriage records:
ccanthem.co.tarrant.tx.us/search.aspx?cabinet=marriage
Dallas County marriage records: www.realestate.countyclerk.dallascounty.org/search.aspx?cabinet=marriage
3. Multistate
VitalChek
- www.vitalchek.com
- birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates
- links to states' regulations for obtaining copies
Genlookups
- www.genlookups.com/
- directory of volunteer genealogists
- state by state directories of vital records
Searchable Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes
- http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/deathrecords.html
- http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/vitalrecords.html
- hit or miss links
- some sites charge fees
USCerts
- www.uscerts.com/
- for ordering certified and uncertified copies of birth, death, marriage, and divorce records from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio,Tennessee, Texas, and Utah
National Center for Health Statistics
- www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm
- where to write for vital records (state by state)
E. Real & Personal Property Records
1. Texas
Texas Secretary of State Direct Access System
- direct.sos.state.tx.us/acct/acct-login.asp
- inexpensive
2.Tarrant & Dallas County
Tarrant County:
ccanthem.co.tarrant.tx.us/search.aspx?cabinet=opr
- search by Grantor, Grantee, or Instrument Number
- includes images
Dallas County:
realestate.countyclerk.dallascounty.org/search.aspx?cabinet=opr.
- search by Grantor, Grantee, Legal Description, or Instrument Number
- coverage includes images from 01/01/1974
3. Texas Counties
Texas County Appraisal Districts - txtax.com/html/tcad.htm
- some but not all offer free searches
TaxNet - http://www.taxnetusa.com/
- links to county appraisal districts in Texas
- for-fee service
Texas Land Records - www.texaslandrecords.com
- free land index searching at 22 Texas counties
Texas County Data - www.txcountydata.com
- assessor and property information for many counties free
- search by owner name, address, or property ID number
- data includes owner, property address, legal description, taxing entities, exemptions, valuation, neighborhood, and more
4. Multistate
Courthouse Direct - www.courthousedirect.com
- links to free county courthouse records nationwide
- provides electronic images of real property documents
- grantor-grantee indices and geographically searchable databases for Texas counties
Vision Appraisal - www.visionappraisal.com/databases/
- index to property records in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode island, Vermont, and Virginia
Melissa data - www.melissadata.com/lookups/mapCounty.asp
- county maps
- zoom to street level
- free registration required
5. International
Journalismnet - www.journalismnet.com/people/canadapersons.htm
- Canadian property
- also sections on the US and UK
F. Motor Vehicle records
Texas driver records - http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/
- request by mail or submit form online
Texas registration and titling - http://www.dot.state.tx.us/
- request form
Carfax vehicle history reports - http://www.carfax.com/
- VIN number searches free
Landings
- www.landings.com
- airplane search
G. Other Interesting Investigative Sources
1. FACSNet - http://www.facsnet.org/sources/newssources/
- Foundation for American Communications (FACS)
- search for experts by name, topic, or affiliation.
2. Education Credentials (fee services)
- http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/secure_area/DVEV/dvev_bridge.asp
- http://www.degreechk.com/
3. Blog Search Engines
- Google Blog Search - blogsearch.google.com
- Technorati - www.technorati.com
- Icerocket - www.icerocket.com
4. WhoIs sites
- www.whois.sc (domain names)
- www.iana.org (IP addresses)
H. Freedom of Information
Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press
- www.rcfp.org/
- 50-state survey of access to electronic records and large selection of resources on Freedom of Information
I. Intellectual Property
U.S. Patents & Trademarks
- www.uspto.gov
- search patent and trademark applications and registrations
Google Patents
- www.google.com/patents
- Google search of U.S. patents
U.S. Copyrights
- www.copyright.gov
- search copyright registrations and DMCA agents
