You probably already know that current state constitutions are reprinted in state code publications, and are generally freely available on state legislature websites (like North Carolina's). But what if you want to search across all fifty states? A new free resource from the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School, 50Constitutions.org, allows researchers to explore the text of current state constitutions individually or across the country.
Fourteen states, including North Carolina, also include constitutional histories, detailing amendments over time and providing access to historical texts. The site’s editors note that “additional features will be added for other states on a rolling basis.”
50Constitutions.org has been added to the Law Library's Legal Databases & Links page. Other sources for state constitutional research available at Duke include Oxford Constitutions of the World, which provides U.S. state materials in its Jurisdictions listings, including historical versions of state constitutions. HeinOnline's State Constitutions Illustrated library similarly provides current and historical state constitutional texts, as well as prestatehood documents. The full text of current state constitutions can also be searched in the campus-wide Nexis Uni as well as the Law School research services Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law.
Additional works about state constitutional law are available in the Duke Libraries Catalog with a search for “Constitutions -- United States -- States”. To locate works about the constitution of a particular state, try a subject search for “Constitutions -- [State Name]” (for example, “Constitutions -- North Carolina”).
For help locating items in the catalog or in the databases above, be sure to Ask a Librarian.