Home - Ohio Primary Law Legal Research Guide - Research Guides at C|M|LAW Library

Introduction

Primary law is the law itself as issued by the government. Sources of primary law in Ohio include:

Case Opinions, court rules and dockets
The Ohio Constitution
Statutes, bills and legislative history documents
Regulations and administrative decisions
Executive Orders

For information on Secondary Sources, which explain primary law and help to find primary law on point, see the library's Ohio Secondary Sources Guide.

Also see the library's Mobile Apps Guide - Ohio.

Search Many Primary and Secondary Sources at Once

Bloomberg Law
Click on All Legal Content (Upper Left, under Getting Started-Research). Select US Law>Jurisdiction (in the grey bar). Click on the plus sign to open up State, and then Ohio. Click on the words "Combined Ohio" to search all Ohio sources. Or select multiple individual sources by clicking on the name of the source.
LexisAdvance
Use the pulldown menus underneath the search box to select (1) Content Type (cases, statutes and legislation, administrative codes and regulations, administrative materials, etc. - can add secondary sources also or search everything) and (2) Jurisdiction - Ohio.
Lexis
Use the Ohio tab, or drilldown to the Ohio page. Check the sources you want to search and hit Search Selected.
WestlawNext
From the Browse Sources Menu, click on the state materials tab, then Ohio. Type a search in the search box to search all Ohio content. Alternatively, click on the radio button, Specify Content to search, and select multiple sources.
Westlaw
Select sources from the Ohio tab. OR scroll through the Directory to find sources, and add the source abbreviations, eg. OH-CS-ALL, to the Search for a Database box to search multiple sources at once.
Ohio Primary Materials Custom Search Engine
Ohio Revised Code, case law, Ohio Administrative Code
Everything Ohio Law Custom Search Engine
Searches Ohio Revised Code, case law, Ohio Administrative Code, research guides and FAQs on Ohio law by any school or library, and Ohio law blogs.
Ohio Custom Search Engines
There is one for primary law, one for blogs and one for research guides.