Originalism Seminar (Prof. Garnett & Judge Thapar): Dictionaries & Definitions

Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts, 415-424 (Appendix A), "A Note on the Use of Legal Dictionaries" (2012) reprinted in 16 Green Bag 2d 419 (2013).

Hesburgh Libraries' Reference Online LibGuide: Dictionaries includes links to:

• Oxford English Dictionary
• Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
• Oxford Language Dictionaries Online
• Database of Latin Dictionaries
• Thesaurus.com

Additionally, you can locate print copies of individual dictionaries by name via the Kresge Law Library catalog.

For example:

• American Heritage Dictionary (3d. ed. 1992).
• Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1991).
• Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (2002).

Historic editions of many dictionaries are available by name through America’s Historical Imprints, Gale Primary Sources and The Making of Modern Law and other databases listed on the Core Databases page of this LibGuide.

For example:

• Ash, J., New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language (1775).
• Dyche, T. & Pardon, W., A New General English Dictionary (16th ed. 1777).
• Johnson, Samuel, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).
• A Dictionary of the English Language (7th ed. 1785).
• Webster, N., American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).
• Worcester, J., Dictionary of the English Language (1860).

For assistance, please contact the research librarians at the Kresge Law Library by email: AskUs@nd.edu.

"A Note on the Use of Legal Dictionaries" (2012) reprinted in 16 Green Bag 2d 419 (2013).

Ash, J., New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language (1775).