HeinOnline
The image-based archive of legal and academic history — journals back to volume one.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- William S. Hein & Co.
- Coverage
200M+ pages of law journals, government documents, treaties, case law, and historical legal materials as exact page images, deeply back-catalogued (verify current counts).
- Access
Institutional subscription.
- Free alternative
- Google Scholar, government archives, JSTOR for some journals.
- Regional
Strong US legal and international treaty coverage.
Our Take
HeinOnline is the historian’s legal database — its defining feature is image-based, page-exact archives of law journals and government documents going back to the first volume, which Westlaw and Lexis (built for current practice) don’t match for historical depth. For legal history, treaty research, and citation to original pagination, it’s unmatched. The trade-offs are a dated interface and that it’s built for retrieval of known materials more than exploratory search. Use it for historical legal research and exact-page citation; use Westlaw or Lexis for current-practice work.
Power Tips
- Use it for exact original pagination when a citation must match the print record.
- Search treaties and historical government documents that current-practice databases omit.
- Combine its back-runs with Westlaw/Lexis for current updates on an old line of cases.
Alternatives & Complements
Westlaw, LexisNexis, JSTOR, Google Scholar
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026