Courts play an important role both in interpreting local laws and in ruling on the powers of local governments and their authority to act in different contexts. As mentioned above, secondary sources can be helpful in identifying relevant cases from the courts. You can also use case law websites to search for cases directly. For guidance on using some of these sites, consult the USC Law Library guide How to Find Cases. If you are interested in finding cases discussing a particular city or county code or charter section, you may want to include the city or county name and the section number as part of your search statements when using these case law websites.
Additional Case Finding Source
There is an additional case finding source that may prove useful when you are researching local government law:
Shepard's Ordinance Law Annotations (Main Floor Stacks, KF 5305 A5 S54)
This multivolume print set provides summaries of cases that interpret or apply city and county ordinances from throughout the U.S. The set is organized like most encyclopedias, with alphabetically arranged broad topics that are divided into specific sections. There is an index at the end of the set to direct you to the broad topic and specific section that is most relevant to your topic. The set is updated with pocket parts and supplements (though the USC Law Library's set is only current through 1996).