| There are two ways that the on-line version of the Maine statutes, the Laws of Maine and the Constitution of Maine available on this site may be accessed. |
STATUTE SEARCH feature. The Maine Revised Statutes is searchable by title, section or phrase (a word or combination of words), or any combination of title, section and phrase. A search of the statutes is accomplished by clicking on the hypertext "Statute Search." This will bring up 3 boxes in which the user enters the number and letter, if any, of the title, the number and letter, if any, of the section, and the word or phrase for which a search is needed. If the title or section number contains a letter, separate the number with a hyphen: e.g., 9-A, 12001-J. Once the information is entered, click on the "search" button. A page containing the results of the search is then displayed. At this point, the user may access the section of the statutes that contains the title or section number or the phrase by clicking on the hypertext that appears directly after the number of the search result that contains the title and section of the statutes. Alternatively, the user can access the area of text containing the highlighted phrase in summary or full text format by clicking on the desired display option. For more information regarding the search feature, see the hypertext "Tips for searching" on the query page.
LAWS OF MAINE SEARCH feature. A search of the Laws of the State of Maine (beginning with the laws enacted by the 118th Legislature) is accomplished by clicking on the hypertext "Search the Laws of Maine." This will bring up a screen on which the user must select the Legislative session in which the user wishes to search and a box in which the user enters the word or phrase for which a search is needed. The search is performed on only those Laws of Maine enacted during the legislative session selected by the user. A page containing the results of the search is then displayed. At this point, the user may access the chapter of the Laws of Maine that contains the word or phrase by clicking on the hypertext containing the chapter that appears directly after the number of the search result OR the user can access the area of text containing the word or phrase in condensed or full text format by clicking on the desired display option. For more information regarding the search feature, see the hypertext "Tips for searching" on the query page.
CONSTITUTION SEARCH feature. A search of the Constitution of Maine is accomplished by clicking on the hypertext "Search the Constitution." This will bring up a screen on which the user must enter the word or phrase for which a search is needed. The search is performed on the entire Constitution. A page containing the results of the search is then displayed. At this point, the user may access the section of the Constitution that contains the word or phrase by clicking on the hypertext containing the article that appears directly after the number of the search result OR the user can access the area of text containing the word or phrase in condensed or full text format by clicking on the desired display option. For more information regarding the search feature, see the hypertext "Tips for searching" on the query page.
FULL ACCESS. Another method of accessing the Maine Revised Statutes, Constitution of Maine or Laws of Maine is to choose either the "Maine Constitution," "Maine Statutes" or "Laws of the State of Maine" hypertext option. This method provides access to the entire Constitution of Maine, the Maine Revised Statutes or the Laws of Maine.
Statutes: If the user chooses the "Maine Statutes" option, the screen shows a list of the titles of the Maine Revised Statutes. By clicking on the hypertext title number and name of the title, the user is presented with a table of contents for that title broken down by chapter, containing the name of that chapter and the sections of law encompassed within that chapter. To access a chapter, click on the hypertext for that chapter. That will bring up a list of the sections within that chapter, the contents of which may be accessed by clicking on the section.
Laws of the State of Maine: The Laws of the State of Maine, beginning with those enacted by the 118th Legislature, are accessible in full by choosing the option "Laws of Maine." The user is presented with a page showing the Laws of Maine, broken down by session and within the session by law type (public, resolve, private and special, etc). In addition, there is a subject index for each session. Following the law type is a range showing the chapters encompassed by that law type for that session. By clicking on the law type, the user is presented with a list of the chapter numbers and titles of the enacted laws, the contents of which may be accessed by clicking on the chapter.
Constitution: The full text of the Constitution of Maine may be accessed by choosing "Maine Constitution." The user is presented with two frames. The left-hand frame contains the table of contents of the Constitution of Maine broken into Articles and Parts. By clicking on an Article or Part, the text of that Article or Part is displayed in the right-hand frame.
| DOWNLOADING. Note that, at any time, the user may download the entire contents of the title, chapter or section in the Maine Revised Statutes being displayed by clicking on the "Download Text" button. The chapter of the Laws of the State of Maine being displayed may be downloaded by clicking on the browser's "print" button. The entire Constitution of Maine may be downloaded by clicking on the hypertext "Download text in MS Word format." If the user is using Netscape, the user should have an associated file helper for the ".doc" file extension. A file helper is available from Microsoft at "www.microsoft.com/word" for free. If the user is using Internet Explorer, the user should follow the instructions that appear. In either case, the file may be saved and then read or manipulated off-line. |
| Statute Search | List of Titles | Maine Law | Revisor of Statutes | Maine Legislature |