What Is the Legal Information Institute (LII) at law.cornell.edu?

Updated

The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a free, public legal resource operated by Cornell Law School. Its stated mission is to make the law readable and understandable "without cost," and it pursues that goal by publishing primary legal sources online, creating explanatory materials, and exploring technologies that make law easier to find. If you need to look up a U.S. statute, regulation, court rule, or a plain-language explanation of a legal concept, LII is designed for exactly that kind of research.

What LII actually publishes

LII's content falls into two broad categories: primary sources (the law itself) and original explanatory content (material that helps you interpret it).

Primary sources

  • Constitution — the U.S. Constitution, including annotations
  • U.S. Code — federal statutes, kept up to date through the most recent version published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel
  • C.F.R. — the Code of Federal Regulations, also kept current
  • Supreme Court — opinions and related materials
  • Executive Orders
  • Federal Rules — the procedural rules governing federal courts
  • State law and state regulations — LII now publishes state regulations for all 50 U.S. states
  • U.C.C. — the Uniform Commercial Code

Original and explanatory content

  • Wex Legal Dictionary and Encyclopedia — plain-language definitions and overviews of legal topics, with new entries added over time (recent additions include birthright citizenship, disenfranchisement, prediction market, and surveillance pricing)
  • Congressional Research Service's U.S. Constitution Annotated — updated with recent Supreme Court decisions
  • LII Supreme Court Bulletin — previews of upcoming cases
  • Introduction to Basic Legal Citation by Peter W. Martin — a widely used citation guide, kept up to date
  • Parallel Table of Authorities, RiO Citation Resolver, and Table of Popular Names — tools for tracking and resolving legal citations
  • The Gender Justice Collection — topical resources, including new material on education rights and technology-facilitated gender-based violence, with country-specific resources for Colombia, the Philippines, and the United States

LII also organizes "Learn About" pages by subject area, covering topics such as administrative law, civics, constitutional law, consumer protection, corporations, courts and procedure, intellectual property, legislation, and real estate law, alongside broader legal topics like business law, criminal law, estate planning, family law, employment law, immigration law, landlord/tenant issues, money and finances, and personal injury.

How to use it

  1. Start with a locator if you know what you're looking for. LII provides locators for uniform law, state statutes by topic, and world law, which help you navigate to the right jurisdiction or subject.
  2. Use the primary source sections for authoritative text. If you need the exact wording of a statute or regulation, go to the U.S. Code or C.F.R. sections rather than relying on a summary.
  3. Use Wex when you need orientation. If you're unfamiliar with a term or area of law, Wex entries give you a starting point before you dig into primary sources.
  4. Check currency where it matters. LII states that the U.S. Code and C.F.R. are up to date with the most recent published versions, and that the Constitution Annotated includes recent Supreme Court decisions — but for anything time-sensitive, confirm against the official government source.

What to keep in mind

  • LII is a publisher and explainer, not a law firm. Nothing on the site is legal advice, and it doesn't replace a licensed attorney for your specific situation.
  • It is free to read. LII's stated vision is that everyone should be able to read and understand the laws that govern them "without cost." The site also invites users to support its work through donations and involvement, and it operates a Supreme Court Bulletin subscription page — so some optional services may involve signing up, even though the core legal content is presented as freely accessible.
  • Coverage is broad but not unlimited. LII covers federal primary sources comprehensively and now includes state regulations for all 50 states, but it is not a full substitute for every state's complete statutory or case law database.

Who it's for

LII is useful if you are a student, researcher, journalist, paralegal, or member of the public who needs reliable access to U.S. legal texts and clear explanations of legal concepts — and who wants to avoid paywalled databases for basic research.