ENSP 399A: Introduction to Environmental Law

Web page created by Gerri Foudy, Social Sciences Team, UM Libraries
Instructor: Professor Margaret H. Giblin

The University of Maryland Libraries have many resources that will help with research for your ENSP 399A class. If you need additional information, please contact Gerri Foudy, the Government & Politics Librarian, or speak with a Reference Librarian at McKeldin Library's Government Documents Desk (on the fourth floor).

Table of Contents

• Finding Cases
• Finding Statutes
• Finding Regulations
• Secondary and Tertiary Authority
• Books
• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedias
• Law Reviews
• Practice Materials: Loose Leaf Services, Legal Newspapers, and Journals
• Environmental and Issues Databases
• Legal Citation

When accessing subscription databases from off-campus, you will be prompted to enter your last name and the 14-digit number on the back of your UM student id card.

Finding Cases

Use the Westlaw Campus Research database to find cases.

First, click on the "Law" tab at the top of the screen.

If you know the citation or party names of a case, enter the information under the "Find" boxes on the top left.

Example: 407 U.S. 258

If you do not know the party names or citation, try to find it through using secondary sources, such as encyclopedias or law reviews, or try a Key Search .

For United States Supreme Court cases only, you also can use the CQ Supreme Court database.

Statutes

Federal statutes are published in the following order: first as slip laws; then as session laws in U.S.C.C.A.N. and United States Statutes at Large (Stat.); next as code in the United States Code; and finally as annotated code.

The U.S. Code is arranged in fifty subjects known as Titles. Titles are divided into chapters and then into sections. After each statutory section in the U.S. Code there is a reference to its source in the Statutes at Large, including sources for any amendments.

How a Bill Becomes a Law

Use the Westlaw Campus Research database to find federal statutes.

First, click on the "Law" tab at the top of the screen.

If you know the citation, enter the information under the "Find" boxes on the top left.

Example: 7 usc 1621

If you do not know the citation, scroll down to Statutes and Regulations and check the box next to United States Code Annotated.

Scroll back up to enter keywords or phrases in the search boxes. However, beware, a keyword search may bring up too many results. Use secondary sources to try to find the citation.

Example: "Clean Air Act"

OR

Use the Lexis Nexis Congressional database.

Go into Legislative Histories, Bills, and Laws

More on Federal Legislative Information

To find State Statutes, use the Westlaw Campus Research database.

If you know the citation, enter the information under the "Find" boxes on the top left.

Example: MD Code, Environment, 4-101.1

If you do not know the citation, scroll down to Statutes and Regulations and check the box next to State Statutes, and choose a state. Scroll back up enter keywords or phrases in the search boxes. However, beware, a keyword search may bring up too many results. Use secondary sources to try to find the citation.

Example: "Chesapeake Bay" and pollution

Finding Regulations

Regulations are published in two basic formats, first chronologically and later are arranged into subjects. The Federal Register (FR) is issued every business day. Regulations are later published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) which is arranged by issuing agency and subject.

To find federal OR state regulations use the Westlaw Campus Research database.

If you know the citation, enter the information under the "Find" boxes on the top left.

Example: 18 CFR 806.2

Example: "Clean Water Act" and fisheries

You also can use the HeinOnline Federal Register Library.

More on the Federal Regulatory Process

Secondary and Tertiary Authority

• Books

  Legal introductory "textbooks" are oftened called hornbooks or nutshells.
  Search the online catalog for books and documents on your topic.

  Make sure you do a multi-campus search and check off USMAI all campuses so that you can request that books be sent from one of the UM law school libraries in Baltimore.

  Start with a "words anywhere search".
  Example: Environmental Law AND (nutshell or hornbook)
  Example: "Clean Water Act" AND hearings

• Dictionaries
  • Black, Henry Campbell. Black's Law Dictionary 8th ed. St. Paul, Minn.: West Pub. Co., 2004.
    The most widely used law dictionary, includes authoritative definitions and often provides cites to the court case that defined a particular word or term.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF156.B53 1999

  • King, James J. The Environmental Dictionary and Regulatory Cross Reference. New York: Wiley, 1995.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    KF3775.A68 K57 1995

  • Lee, C.C. Dictionary of Environmental Legal Terms. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    KF3775.A68 L44 1997

• Encyclopedias
  • West's Maryland Law Encyclopedia : Based on Maryland Statutes and Cases. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, 1960-
    Dozens of volumes arranged by broad topic, with very specific entries searchable by index or detailed tables of contents. Explanatory articles and many citations to Maryland cases and statutes.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks or Maryland Room Reference (most up-to-date copy is in Maryland Room)
    CALL NUMBER: KFM1265.W4
  • American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur 2d). Rochester, NY: Lawyers Cooperative, 1990 - .
    Legal encyclopedia on state and federal law; updated with pocket parts in the back of each volume. Provides comprehensive research references for each topic.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF385.A2
    Also available in the Westlaw Campus Research database

  • Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS). Brooklyn, NY: American Law Book Co., 1938 -.
    Legal encyclopedia arranged by title (subject) of American law. Kept up-to-date by cumulative annual pocket parts, replacement volumes, and additional, extra numbered and lettered volumes.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF100.C63

  Law Reviews

  To find Law Review articles, use the use the Westlaw Campus Research database.

  If you know the citation, enter the information under the "Find" boxes on the top left.

  Example: 39 Ariz. St. L.J. 383
  

  

  If you do not know the citation, scroll down to Encyclopedias and Law Reviews and check the box next to Journals and Law Reviews and select "All Journals and Law Reviews" or choose a state. Scroll back up enter keywords or phrases in the search boxes. However, beware, a keyword search may bring up too many results.

  

  Example: CERCLA and "World Trade Center"

  

  Getting too many results? Try limiting the date range or adding more keywords.

  Practice Materials

  • Clean Air Act: Step-by-Step Compliance. New York: Aspen Law & Business, 2002.
    Describes the federal regulatory requirements and programs implementing the statute, and what these requirements and programs mean to the regulated community.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF3812.A35 C5 2002

  • Environment Reporter. Washington: Bureau of National Affairs.
    Looseleaf service has eight parts: Federal Laws; Federal Regulations; State Air Laws; State Water Laws; State Solid Waste, Land Use Laws; Current Developments; Monographs; and Mining.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF3775.A6 E49

  • Environment Reporter: Cases. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs.
    Opinions of federal and state courts in the filed of environmental law.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF33775.A5 E62

  • Findley, Roger W., Daniel A. Farber, and Jody Freeman. Cases and Materials on Environmental Law 6th ed. St. Paul, MN : Thomson/West, 2003.
    Provides augmented coverage of RCRA, the Endangered Species Act, and other issues of environmental enforcement. Coverage of the basic pollution statutes. Includes tables of authority, acronyms, and cases.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
    CALL NUMBER: KF3775.A7 F56 2003

  • Wagner, Travis. The Complete Guide to the Hazardous Waste Regulations: RCRA, TSCA, HMTA, OSHA, and Superfund. 3rd ed. New York: Wiley, 1999.
    Details applicability, state requirements, petitions, key definitions, classification, standards, permits, enforcement, corrective actions, etc.
    LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks

  Environmental and Issues Databases

  • Greenwire/Environment & Energy Daily/Land Letter
    Comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy politics and policy, includes summaries of important energy and environmental policy coverage from hundreds of print, broadcast and online sources, including editorials. Greenwire's archive of key documents provides direct links to reports, analyses, memos, court cases and over 30,000 Greenwire stories.

  • CQ Researcher
    Full-text database that provides comprehensive analysis of each topic, including history and background information, relevant pro & con arguments, current status, bibliographies, contact information, and outlooks on upcoming "hot topics" in current events.

  • CQ Weekly
    Weekly congressional news and analysis. Full text available from 1983 -- present.

  • DOSE: Dictionary of Substances and their Effects Database
    Data for the accurate assessment of the risks associated with the use of over 4, 100 chemicals. Data include physical properties, occupational exposure limits, mammalian and avian toxicity, genotoxicity, ecotoxicity, environmental fate, plus regulatory requirements including risk and safety.

  • Ecology Abstracts
    Index to current ecology research across a wide range of disciplines, reflecting recent advances in light of growing evidence regarding global environmental change and destruction. Ecology Abstracts focuses on how organisms of all kinds - microbes, plants, and animals - interact with their environments and with other organisms. Included are relevant papers on evolutionary biology, economics, and systems analysis as they relate to ecosystems or the environment. 1982 to the present.

  • EDTE World Energy Database
    Information on the environmental impact of energy production and use, including climate change; energy R&D; energy policy; nuclear, coal, hydrocarbon and renewable energy technologies and more. Includes over 953,500 bibliographic records from early 1995 forward.

  • Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management Abstracts
    Multidisciplinary database with abstracts and citations drawn from over 5980 serials including scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications.

  • Water Resources Abstracts
    Provides summaries of the world's technical and scientific literature on water-related topics covering the characteristics, conservation, control, pollution, treatment, use and management of water resources. Abstracts are drawn from journals, books, conference proceedings, and technical reports in the physical and life sciences, as well as from engineering, legal and government publications.