National Survey of State Laws

Richard Leiter’s National Survey of State Laws provides an overall view of some of the most frequently sought-after and controversial legal topics in the United States. This database is derived from the print edition’s convenient chart format and enables users to make basic state-by-state comparisons of current state laws. The current 9th edition, along with the 8th, 7th, 6th and 5th editions, are included in database format.

Browse by eight major legal categories or browse laws by topic. Within each category, topics are arranged alphabetically and presented in their own subsections. Each section begins with a general overview followed by a table that briefly summarizes each state’s statutes on particular aspects of the law. References to the statute or code section covering that law are also presented, enabling users who are interested in reading the original text to easily find it. The appendix, Statutory Compilations Used in This Book, provides the abbreviations and full names of each state code.

Selecting a law from either the list of categories or the list of topics will produce an easy-to-use state-by-state comparison chart which includes the code section and other relevant information pertaining to the law of each state. This chart can be manipulated based on the user’s research needs.

1. Select one or more states to view the laws for only those states
2. Print or download the chart as a PDF for a handy paper reference
3. Use the toggle icon to show more or less text
4. Click Related Subject Compilations of State Laws Subjects to view a list of corresponding topics in Cheryl Nyberg's Subject of Compilations of State Laws
5. Easily view whether or how a law has changed for each state by clicking View Previous under the Edition header