Social Law Library

To confirm the hours of operation at a particular Trial Court Law Library, please call the library location

II. State Library of Massachusetts.

http://www.mass.gov/anf/research-and-tech/oversight-agencies/lib/  

 There is no Trial Court Law Library for Suffolk County. That is because at the time the Social Law Library was incorporated and mandated to serve as the library for the Commonwealth’s judicial, executive, and legislative branches of government, the legislative intent was that the law collection of the State Library, which is open to all, function as the free law library for Suffolk County.

Among the many legal materials available at the State Library are:

Federal Law—

Federal law resources, including statutes (United States Code), administrative law (Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register), and case law (decisions of the Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeal, and District Courts).

Massachusetts State Law—

Statutory law (Massachusetts General Laws) and some historical legislative information, administrative law (Code of Massachusetts Regulations; Massachusetts Register), case law (Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court). Massachusetts specific databases that are created and maintained by the Social Law Library are also available for the public to access at the State Library.

In addition to its paper-based legal collection, the State Library offers access to the public to its computer workstations, online services, and networked materials, including  WESTLAW, Gale Virtual Reference Library databases (Academic OneFile, General Business File, and General Reference Center Gold); Nolo Books Online; and ProQuest Massachusetts Newsstand. WiFi connectivity is available

The State Library of Massachusetts
24 Beacon Street
State House, Room 341
Boston, MA 02133
(617) 727-2590
Fax: (617) 727-9730
Mon.-Fri. 9:00-5:00

III. Library of the United States Courts in the First Circuit 

Located in the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse, the Library for the First Circuit has an extensive legal collection that may be accessed by members of the general public. The Library offers many printed legal resources, as well as publicly accessible computers and wireless internet. Only government employees are allowed to borrow materials from the Library but the collection is open to the public to use in the library.

 

Library of the United States Courts in the First Circuit
http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/circuit-library

John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Suite 9400
Boston, MA 02210

(617) 748-9044
Fax: (617) 748-9358

Mon.-Fri. 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

IV. Boston Public Library.

 The Boston Public Library has a substantial legal collection, including such Massachusetts-specific materials as: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Decisions, Massachusetts Appeals Court Decisions, Massachusetts General Laws Annotated, Annotated Laws of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Law Reporter, Massachusetts Law Review, Massachusetts Practice Series, Massachusetts Digest (1st and 2nd), Massachusetts Acts and Resolves, the Code of Massachusetts Regulations; Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and Flaschner Judicial Institute titles. The legal collection also includes American Jurisprudence, Corpus Juris Secundum, and general legal materials.

Boston Public Library

There is a BPL branch quite close to the John Adams Courthouse. The West End branch offers WiFi connectivity and public computers with printing are available.

Boston Public Library - West End
151 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02114
Tel: 617-523-3957

V. Other Public Libraries.

The public library in your city or town may also be a resource and does provide free Internet access. You can find a list of the public libraries in Massachusetts at http://www.mlin.org.