Experiential Learning Research Guide: Administrative Law

The U.S. Government Manual is a guide to the structure of federal agencies. It includes information on agency structure, regulatory plans, the history of their founding, how to file FOIA requests, as well as information about websites and phone numbers.

Alphabetical directory of federal departments and agencies, with contact information and links to agency websites.

e-CFR is an currently up-to-date version of the Code of Federal Regulations. It is updated daily with new rules from the Federal Register. However, it is not considered an official legal edition of the CFR (see govinfo below). It can be browsed by title as well as searched using the links on the left of the screen.

govinfo has the official annual edition of the CFR in .pdf, .txt., and .xml format for each year going back to 1996. It can be browsed by title and sections can be individually downloaded. In order to search, use the Advanced Search function (on the main page) and select it from the list of collections.

Search or browse the Code of Federal Regulations on Lexis.

Search or browse the Code of Federal Regulations on Westlaw.

This government website provides an easy to use version of the Federal Register. Each issue can be browsed and searched by type of notice, relevant agency, topic, and date. As well, the Unified Agendas for agencies can be browsed and searched. There is also a database of Executive Orders, and the site provides a lot of information explaining the rule-making process.

Regulations.gov allows you to access new Rules and Notices from the Federal Register, as well as to comment on Proposed Rules. It also includes the Regulatory Agendas of each Federal agency (the lists of regulations that they plan to make). It can be searched by keyword, title, or document ID number.

This guide from UVA links to where to find administrative orders and administrative guidance for most federal administrative agencies.

Use this link to search all federal administrative decisions, or browse decisions by a particular agency.

Use this link to search all federal administrative decisions, or browse decisions by a particular agency.

Lexis+ offers the ability to search many (but not all) municipal codes - make sure to check its coverage scope.

Municode hosts the municipal codes of many cities and towns.