50-State Surveys

In the United States, there are multiple levels of laws and regulations that govern people and their actions. While federal law is (theoretically) uniform across all 50 states, each state is empowered by the U.S. Constitution to enact its own laws to govern people within that state. While this federal system has many advantages, it also means that one needs to know the laws of a particular state to ensure that one's behavior is in accordance with the law.

Justia has compiled the state laws in a variety of areas into an easily digestible format so that consumers and researchers can compare the differences between laws of different states on those topics. Below are the Justia 50-state surveys that have been published to date.

Employment

Divorce & Family Law

Injury

Criminal Law

Estate Planning & Probate

Money & Property

Business

Voting & Elections

Small Claims

Small Claims Laws and Forms: 50-State Survey

Current Issues

50-State COVID-19 Resources

During the coronavirus pandemic, Justia provided resources to reflect each state’s evolving actions, mandates, and guidelines in response to the emergency. The resources below allowed consumers and researchers to easily digest and compare states’ coronavirus responses on a variety of topics.

Last reviewed June 2023

Today on Verdict

On to the Next Crisis

Cornell professor Joseph Margulies argues that the debt-ceiling “crisis” was manufactured by politicians and the media and that our nation is structurally induced to preserve and enflame such problems rather than solve them.

Lessons Learned When Abolitionists Seek to Save the Lives of Mass Murderers Like Robert Bowers

Amherst professor Austin Sarat points out that when death penalty abolitionists take up the cause of saving the lives of people accused of mass murder, they need also to keep reminding people that, in the many less notorious cases in which the state seeks death as a punishment, the death penalty continues to legitimize vengeance, intensify racial divisions, promise simple solutions to complex problems, and damage our political and legal institutions.