History of the Judges of the Oregon Supreme Court

We have digitized the historic document written by Arthur F. Benson, History of the Judges of the Oregon Supreme Court, 1841-1946. Benson was a clerk of the Oregon Supreme Court from 1918-53 and wrote this history that details the history of Oregon from the perspective of the courts. The documents have been made available both online and in PDF format.

We have made this collection available to you on our LibGuides page, Oregon Judicial Department History. There you'll find a trove of information about Oregon law including the history of the Oregon Reports, Oregon statutes from 1854 and much more!

Each week on our Twitter account, we are going to feature a historical Oregon judge along with a link to his chapter from Benson's research, so follow us @go2soll so you won't miss a single one!

Have a great week!

Library Resource Tip of the Day

Looking for older versions of Oregon Revised Statutes? The Law Library has all the Oregon Revised Statutes in print. The first Oregon Revised Statutes was published in 1953. The library has these volumes in print from 1953-current.

The Oregon Legislature created the Oregon Revised Statutes by recodifying the previous code, which was called the Oregon Compiled Laws Annotated (1940). The first Oregon Revised Statutes was published in 1953.

The codes which preceded the ORS are Deady's General Laws of Oregon (1845-1864), Deady and Lane's General Laws of Oregon (1843-1872), Hill's Annotated Laws of Oregon (1887), Hill's Annotated Laws of Oregon (2nd ed. 1892), Bellinger and Cotton's Annotated Codes and Statutes of Oregon (1902), Lord's Oregon Laws (1910), Oregon Laws (Olson's) (1920), Oregon Code Annotated (1930), and Oregon Compiled Laws Annotated (1940). We have all of these!

Library Resource Tip of the Day

Looking for CLE credit?

The Law Library has CLE program materials available for checkout. You can find the audio CDs and booklets for CLEs in the Oregon Materials section. All of our CLEs are Oregon State Bar approved and published within the last 3 years. 

HeinOnline Resource Tip of the Day

HeinOnline provides online access to great legal resources like Restatements, the Model Penal Code, select archived versions of state statutes and complete archives of the US Code and Code of Federal Regulations.

You can access HeinOnline at the library, or, if you’re a state employee you have access from your desktop! Contact the law library to learn more!

Westlaw Next Search Tip of the Day

Today we’re highlighting a useful Westlaw Next tool: Find & Print

Have a bunch of citations and need to look at the full text of the cases? Try this handy tool!

On the main Westlaw Next page, select the Tools tab and scroll down to the Find & Print. From there you have some options. Enter up to 100 citations and you can receive full text documents, case opinions, statutes, KeyCites, anything you need!  You can have the information delivered in email, print or downloadable format and even customize the layout. 

Just another helpful tip from your friendly law librarians!

Lexis Advance Search Tip of the Day

Quick tip of the day!

Researching on the go? Check out Lexis on your smart phone at lexisnexis.com/mobile

Westlaw's Tip of the Week Blog

Can’t get enough research tips? Check out Westlaw’s Tip of the Week blog: http://tinyurl.com/qhu62hq

Lexis Advance Search Tip of the Day

Another edition of Lexis Advance search tips!

Are you familiar with Lexis’ search commands? Did you know that you can use them in Lexis Advance? Besides the basic Boolean operators we all know (AND, OR, NOT), Lexis provides some good options for narrowing down your search at the keyword level.

Next time you’re searching, try using the connectors w/s w/p or w/n

• W/s finds words in the same sentence. Ex: sanction w/s frivolous
• W/p finds words in the same paragraph. Ex: “cell phone” w/p child
• W/n finds words within n words of each other. Ex: “fiduciary duty” w/10 breach

Happy researching!

Westlaw Next Search Tip of the Day

Today we have some Westlaw Next search tips!

You can access annotated historical ORSs from Westlaw. On the main page click “Statutes & court Rules,” then look for the Tools & Resources column (on the far right) and click on “Historical Statutes.” Choose your desired jurisdiction and see the historical statutes! Oregon’s archive goes back to 1998.

Good luck with your research!

Lexis Advance Search Tip of the Day

Today the law library offers some Lexis Advance search tips!

Instead of a broad search, you can narrow to searching specific sources. Click the “Browse Sources” link above the red search box. From there you can select your desired source OR just start typing! Lexis will offer suggestions for which source you may be looking for.

Once you’ve selected your source, you can add your search terms from there. Just another way you can minimize your search time and maximize your relevant search results!