User Guides Subject Guides > Government, Law & Politics — Rhode Island Legal Sources

The Library has an extensive collection of sources relating to Rhode Island laws, regulations, court cases, and the state constitution. Those publications that are located in the State Publications section are cataloged under an in-house classification system (the Swank system) which is based on the issuing state agency preceded by the number 39. For example, in the number 39-E68, 39=Rhode Island and E68=Dept. of Economic Development. The publications listed below are arranged alphabetically within each group. For a list of selected state publications that are of general interest, see Rhode Island State Publications. For other Rhode Island State publications, consult the HELIN library catalog (http://library.uri.edu/) or the Government Publications shelflist drawers labeled “Rhode Island State Pubs.”

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Laws & publications relating to legislative history | Regulations
Court cases | Rhode Island constitution

CCE Ref KFR 25 .A3 1994, 2004

URI State Pub 39-A3 2: 1798-

Acts and Resolves. 1900- (Annual).

Text of private laws (laws pertaining to one person, corporation, or municipality) and resolutions passed by the General Assembly. Arranged in chronological order of passage. Index by subject.

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/gen_assembly/genmenu.html 1997-

Rhode Island General Assembly. House. Bills.

Full text of bills and current status of each bill for the current year. May be searched by bill number and keyword.

CCE Ref KFR30 1956 A2 1987

URI Ref KFR30 1956 A2 1990-. Earlier in Serial Stacks.

URI State Pub Ref KFR30 1956 A2 Latest edition only.

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/Statutes.html

General Laws of Rhode Island. 1956: completely annotated

Code of all current civil and criminal laws of Rhode Island. Arranged by broad subject areas called “titles."  Subject Index. Updated by annual pocket supplements.  Online version searchable by keyword.

URI State Pub  39-A4 1: 1906, 1907, 1941-

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Genmenu/ 1998-

Journal of the House of Representatives.  Daily when the House is in session.

Record of daily proceedings of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. No index. Online version under "Journals," arranged by year and searchable by keyword. 

URI State Pub 39-A5 1:1906, 1941-

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Journals/SenateJournals/SenateJournals.html

Journal of the Senate.  Daily when the Senate is in session.

Record of daily proceedings of the Rhode Island Senate. No index. Online version under "Journals," arranged by year and searchable by keyword.

URI State Pub 39-S82 6:L34mr 1997-2002

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/QuickCalendar/ Latest week only.

Legislative Meetings Report. Daily when General Assembly is in session. Latest year on State Pubs Reference.

Announcements of hearings and committee meetings to be held within the next seven days.

URI State Pub  39-A3 5: 1900

URI RI Collection KFR25 A4: 1798-1898

Public Laws of Rhode Island. 1900- (Annual).

Text of laws as they are passed by the General Assembly. Arranged in chronological order of passage. Indexed by subject.

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/

Rhode Island General Assembly Website.

Includes text of bills and legislative action taken for the current year. Full text of Public Laws back to 1994. Also includes related files such as election results and the Rhode Island constitution. Most files may be searched by keyword, sponsor, or legal citation.

URI State Pub 39-S82 6:L34 1997-2002 (Weekly when the General Assembly is in session).

http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Genmenu 2003-

Weekly Legislative Report.

Weekly summary of actions taken by the General Assembly. Arranged by bill number.  Online version under Bill Status/History for current year and Bill Status for previous years.

 

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

LexisNexis Academic.  1965- Updated daily.

Electronic access to Rhode Island state law.  Located under the "State Code" part of the "Legal Research" section, court rules, and State Attorneys' general opinions.  Searchable by keyword.

URI Ref  KFR35 .A24

Code of Rhode Island Rules. 22 vols. (Updated monthly).

Text of all state regulations on file. Arranged by an 8-digit numbering system based on issuing agency. Indexed by subject, rule number, and citing authority.

URI Ref KFR36 .R48

Rhode Island Government Register. July 2003- (Monthly). Earlier in Serial Stacks.  See "Latest Received" in HELIN record.

Text of latest state rules. Includes regulations, executive orders, appointments to state offices, and opinions of the Attorney General. Subject index in the latest issue cumulates for the current year.

http://www.state.ri.us

Rhode Island Office of the Secretary of State.

"Regulations database" section of site (under "online services") provides access to Rhode Island rules and regulations.  Searchable by keyword, agency, and can search expired, superseded, and repealed rules.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

LexisNexis Academic.  1965- Updated daily.

Electronic access to Rhode Island Supreme Court cases.  Located under the "State Code" part of the "Legal Research" section, court rules, and State Attorneys' general opinions.  Searchable by keyword.

 

URI State Pub. 39-C45s 1:

Rhode Island Reports. 1828-1983.

Text of opinions of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Indexed by case name. Subject access is through the Rhode Island Digest (Ref. KFR57 .W4). Continued by Rhode Island Reporter. Also available online through LexisNexis Academic.

URI Ref  KFR45 .R464 (Older volumes in Serial Stacks)

West's Rhode Island Reporter. 1989- (Annual). Latest 10 years in Reference; earlier in Serial Stacks.

Text of opinions of the Rhode Island Supreme Court that have appeared in the Atlantic Reporter. A “Key Number Digest” is included. Subject access is through the Rhode Island Digest (Ref KFR57 .W4). Pre-1989 editions under variant titles, check HELIN records.

URI State Pub 39-C38 2:

Journal of the Constitutional Convention. 1964-65, 1966-68, 1973, 1986.

Record of activities of the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. Arranged by date. No index.

URI State Pub 39-C38

Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. Report of Proceedings. 1951, 1957, 1964-1969.

Verbatim transcript of each Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. Arranged by date. No index.

For assistance
If you need further assistance, please contact the Government Publications Office, University Library, (401) 874-2606. If the office is closed, please consult the Reference Desk, which may be reached at (401) 874-2653. You may also contact the government publications subject specialist, Deborah Mongeau, at (401) 874-4610 or dmongeau@uri.edu.

D. Mongeau, 9/98, S. Anderson 1/07.