Legal encyclopedias cover many areas of law providing both the black letter law and commentary. They are organized topically in alphabetical order, and each topic is broken down into many sub-topics. For example, the topic Gaming would be in volume 38 of C.J.S. which covers Game to Garnishment. Gaming is then broken down into subtopics such as Regulation of Particular Activities and Gambling Contracts and Transactions.
The challenge with encyclopedias is often to discover under which topic your area of interest falls, and for this you use the index. For example, if you were interested in the laws protecting bald eagles, in C.J.S. that would be in the G section for Game; conservation and preservation of wildlife, while in Am. Jur. it is filed under F for the topic Fish Game and Wildlife Conservation. In both cases you would find where Bald Eagles are located by searching in the indexes under Bald Eagle. Alternatively, if you have a citation to the actual law (i.e. 16 USC § 668 for our bald eagle example), each set contains Table of Laws and Rules volumes that you can use to find the encyclopedia entries that reference that law.
Also, each set of encyclopedias do not necessarily cover the same topics or in the same way. For example, in our wildlife conservation topic, C.J.S. includes a section about laws protecting wild horses, while Am. Jur. does not. It is therefore usually worthwhile to look in both encyclopedia sets.
Warning: Encyclopedia articles are not authoritative so be cautious in how you use them. They are for research purposes only, not for citing in court documents or memos.
Corpus Juris Secundum: a Complete Restatement of the Entire American Law as Developed by All Reported Cases
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American Jurisprudence: a Modern Comprehensive Text Statement of American Law, State and Federal This link opens in a new window
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Strong's North Carolina Index This link opens in a new windowAlso see our guide on Legal Encyclopedias.