Terms of Use

Welcome to the 50 Constitutions Website (“50 Constitutions”). 50 Constitutions is a project of the University of Wisconsin Law School’s State Democracy Research Initiative (SDRI), in collaboration with the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy and the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy at the UVA School of Law (Karsh, collectively). By visiting or accessing 50 Constitutions or viewing, accessing or otherwise using any of the services or information created, collected, or compiled by 50 Constitutions, you confirm that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by the following Agreement (Agreement). This Agreement constitutions the entire agreement between you and SDRI and its affiliates with respect to the subject matter herein.

I. Intellectual Property

Original content produced for 50 Constitutions is protected by copyright. SDRI grants you a non-exclusive license to access and use those portions of the 50 Constitutions Website without a password or logon for personal or non-profit purposes including educational or research, subject to the terms of this Agreement, provided that you keep all copyright or other proprietary notices intact.

Any of the trademarks, service marks, collective marks, design rights or similar rights that are mentioned, used or cited on 50 Constitutions are the property of their respective owners. Unless otherwise stated, 50 Constitutions are neither endorsed by nor affiliated with any of the holders of any such rights and as such SDRI cannot grant any rights to use any otherwise protected materials. Your use of any such or similar incorporeal property is at your own risk.

50 Constitutions and any of the project’s graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts and service names are SDRI’s trademarks or trade dress, and SDRI reserves all rights with respect to those trademarks and trade dress. You may not use such trademarks or trade dress, or any trademarks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison or University of Wisconsin Law School in any commercial publicity, advertising, or news release without prior written approval of the University of Wisconsin-Madison or University of Wisconsin Law School. The SDRI name may be used for attribution purposes in noncommercial contexts so long as neither affiliation with nor endorsement by SDRI, University of Wisconsin-Madison or University of Wisconsin Law School is suggested.

Preferred Citation

The following citation should accompany any contents or graphics if used: 50 Constitutions, 50constitutions.org (last visited ______). Alternatively, cite as: [Topic], 50 Constitutions, 50constitutions.org/[relevant slug] (last visited ______).

II. Permitted Use

50 Constitutions content may not be copied or otherwise used for commercial use (including without limitation, use to train AI models intended to be offered as commercial products) and the use of automated systems or software to extract data from this website (website scraping) for commercial purposes is prohibited without SDRI’s express prior written consent. To discuss commercial use please email: sdri@law.wisc.edu.

III. Provision of Services

You agree and acknowledge that 50 Constitutions is entitled to modify, improve or discontinue any of its services at its sole discretion and without notice to you even if it may result in you being prevented from accessing any information contained in it.

IV. Links to this Website

If linking to this website from another source, you agree to be bound by the following terms:

You may not state or imply that 50 Constitutions, SDRI, or Karsh are endorsing you, your viewpoints or any of the products or services that you or your organization may provide;
SDRI assumes no liability or responsibility whatsoever for any content of any other page that contains a link to the 50 Constitutions Website; and
SDRI reserves the right to terminate any links to the Website as it deems necessary, with or without cause or warning. If SDRI chooses to exercise this right, you will be required to remove your link to the Website immediately.

V. Disclaimer of Warranties, Assumption of Risk, Limitation of Liability and Indemnification

THIS WEBSITE AND ANY INFORMATION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES THEREIN ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR USE FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND/OR NONINFRINGEMENT.

SDRI does not warrant, and hereby disclaims any warranties, either expressed or implied, of fitness for a particular purposes or merchantability, and with respect to the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information on 50 Constitutions or information obtained from any link on 50 Constitutions. SDRI does not warrant that this Website will operate in an uninterrupted or error-free manner or that this Website is free of viruses or other harmful components. Use of 50 Constitutions and the information obtained from or through this Website is at your own risk.

You are responsible for any and all damages and liability associated with your use of the 50 Constitutions Website. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU HEREBY WAIVE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS OF ANY KIND OR DESCRIPTION AGAINST THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM, AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE DATA AND ANY DECISIONS YOU MAY MAKE AS A RESULT OF USING THE DATA. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM, OR ITS OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, RELIANCE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ATTORNEYS' FEES HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT OR OTHERWISE ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THE DATA EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE OR IF SUCH DAMAGES WERE FORESEEABLE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW CERTAIN LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY, SO SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

SDRI makes no representation regarding your ability to transmit and receive information from or through 50 Constitutions. You acknowledge and agree that your ability to access 50 Constitutions is not guaranteed and may be impaired. SDRI disclaims any and all liability resulting from or related to such events.

To the extent authorized by law, you agree to indemnify and hold SDRI and the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, and its employees and agents from any and all claims, losses, costs, and/or damages (including but not limited to attorney’s fees, court costs, expert witness fees, and all such other expenses) that arise, directly or indirectly, from your violation of this Agreement, your use of 50 Constitutions and to cooperate in SDRI’s defense against any such claims.

VI. External Content

50 Constitutions may include hyperlinks to third-party content, advertising or websites. You acknowledge and agree that SDRI is not responsible for and does not necessarily endorse any advertising, products or resources available from such resources or websites.

VII. Security

You are solely responsible for protecting against viruses, Trojan horses, or other computer programming routines intended to damage a computer’s functionality.

VIII. Governing Law, Venue

You agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement or any content posted to 50 Constitutions, will be governed by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, excluding its conﬂicts of law provisions.

Any legal action between you and SDRI related to this Agreement and/or 50 Constitutions shall only be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in Madison, Wisconsin. Unless you are entering into this agreement on behalf of a state or federal agency, you consent, and waive all objections, to such jurisdiction and venue in Madison, Wisconsin.

IX. Legal Statements

There is absolutely no assurance that any statement touching on legal matters is true, correct or precise. Even if a statement made about the law is accurate, the law may have changed, been modified or overturned by subsequent development since the information was made available on 50 Constitutions.

The legal information provided on 50 Constitutions is, at best, of a general nature and cannot substitute for the advice of a licensed professional. Please contact a local bar association, law society or similar association of jurists in your legal jurisdiction to obtain a referral to a competent legal professional if you do not have other means of contacting an attorney-at-law, lawyer, civil law notary, barrister or solicitor.

Nothing on 50 Constitutions should be construed as an attempt to offer or render a legal opinion or otherwise engage in the practice of law.

X. Modifications to this Agreement

SDRI has the right to periodically change the terms of this Agreement without notice, which shall become effective immediately upon posting. By continuing to use 50 Constitutions after SDRI has posted such changes, you agree to be bound by this Agreement, as modiﬁed. SDRI has the right to change, restrict access to, suspend, or discontinue 50 Constitutions, or any portion of 50 Constitutions, at any time with or without notice and shall not be liable to you or any third party for any such change, restriction, suspension, or discontinuation of 50 Constitutions.

XI. Feedback

We encourage you to contact us in regard to any questions, comments, suggestions, or other feedback you have about 50 Constitutions. You may send feedback to the following e-mail address: sdri@law.wisc.edu. You acknowledge and agree that any feedback provided by you to SDRI is non-conﬁdential.