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Updated
2007-11-29 23:43
Primary Authorities
Statutes & Constitutions Found Federal Front of U.S. Code & Index State State's Statutory Code & Index Use Index to find statute section Read Statutue section & check supplements for status U.S. Const. art. IV, § 2, cl. 3 Correct citation for Constitutions
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Statutes
Question Answer Statutes go from bill to slip law to federal session laws Official Statutes at Large & United States Code Statutes at Large arranged chronolgically and is only complete collection United States Code arranged by topic and only selected statutes Abbreviation for Statutes at Large Stat. Abbreviation for United States Code U.S.C. Unofficial United States Code Annotated & United States Code Service United States Code Annotated arrnaged by topic United States Code Annotated publisehd by West & uses key numbering system United States Code Service arranged by topic United States Code Service published by Lawyers Co-Op & uses annotations Statutes At Large is official publication for Congressional laws Health Care Act, Pub. L. 92-117, 83 Stat. 624 (1987) Citation for Statutes at Large 15 U.S.C. § 7 (1988) Citation of United States Code
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Administrative Rules & Regulations
Question Answer Federal Fegister arranged chronological Code of Federal Regulations codified by topic Abbreviation for Federal Register Fed. Reg. Abbreviation for Code of Federal Regulations C.F.R.
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Prodecureal Rules
Question Answer Name Procedural Rules Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure & Federal Rules of Evidence Abbreviation for Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Fed. R. Crim. P. Abbreviation for Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Fed. R. Civ. P. Abbrviation for Federal Rules of Appellate Proceduer Fed. R. App. P. Abbreviatin for Federal Rules of Evidence Fed. R. Evid. Citation Fed. R. App. P. 2.
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Cases
Question Answer Cases found in Reporter & Digest Use digest to find case references Read case in reporter & Shepardize to determine status
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Supreme Court Cases
Question Answer Supreme Court Cases go from case to slip opinion to advance sheets Official Reporter for Supreme Court Cases United States Reports United States Reports requires no parallel citation Abbreviation or United States Reports U.S. Unofficial Reporter for Supreme Court Cases Supreme Court Reporter & United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition Supreme Court Reporter published by West Abbreviation for Supreme Court Reporter S. Ct. United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition published by Lawyer's Co-op Abbreviation for United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition L. Ed. or L. Ed. 2d United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition contains syllabus of the court
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United States Courts Of Appeal
Question Answer Official reporter for United States Courts of Appeal There is none Unofficial reporter for United States Courts of Appeal published by West, selected cases only Name United States Courts of Appeal reporters Federal Reporter, Third Series from 1993 to present, Federal Reporter Second Series from 1924 to 1993, Federal Reporter from 1880 to 1924, and Federal Cases from 1789 to 1880 Abbreviation for Federal Reporter, Third Series F.3d Abbreviation for Federal Reporter, Second Series F.2d Abbreviation for Federal Reporter F. Abbreviation for Federal Cases F. Cas. Reporters contain descriptive index
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United States District Courts
Question Answer Official Reporter for United States District Courts There is none Unoffical Reporter for United States District Courts published by West, selected cases only Name United States District Courts Reporters Federal Supplement 1932 to present, Federal Reporter, Second Series 1924 to 1932, Federal Reporter 1880 to 1924, Federal Cases 1789 to 1880 Abbreviation for Federal Supplements F. Supp. Abbreviation for Federal Reporter, Second Series F.2d Abbreviation for Federal Reporter F. Abbreviation for Federal Cases F. Cas. Federal Supplement contains Federal trial court opinions
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Federal Specialty Courts
Question Answer Federal Rules Decision cases reltated to federal procedure rules Bankruptcy Reporter decisions of federal bankruptcy courts 1979 Uniform System of Citation contains complete list of federal specialty courts/case reporters Abbreviation for Federal Rules Decision F.R.D. Abbreviation for Bankruptcy Reporter B.R. Some federal specialty courts publish own opinions
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State Case Reporters
Question Answer National Reporter System published by West National Reporter System divided into 7 geographical regions National Reporter System reports decisions of highest appellate court within that region Name 7 regional reporters Atlantic, Pacific, North Eastern, North Western, South Eastern, South Western, Southern
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Secondary Authorities
Question Answer Legal Encyclopedis arranged alphabetically by subject matter Name the Legal Encyclopedias Corpus Juris Secundum & American Jurisprudence, Second Series Corpus Juris Secundum published by West, uses key number system and is heavily footnoted American Juris Prudence, Second Series published by Lawyers' Co-Op and cites directly to Annotated Law Reports Abbreviation for Corpus Juris Secundum C.J.S. Abbreviation for American Juris Prudence, Second Series Am. Jur. 2d
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American Law Reports
Question Answer American Law Reports published by Lawyers' Co-Op Abbreviation for American Law Reports A.L.R. American Law Reports is the leading annotated law reporter American Law Reports comes in 5 parts Use A.L.R. Quick Index volumes that cover A.L.R.3d & A.L.R.4th to findannotatoins on a particular topic Check Historical Table at back of A.L.R. Quick Index to determine if an A.L.R. series annotation has been superseded American Law Reports selected (significant) cases and is filled with extensive, selected annotations
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Restatement
Question Answer Restatement published by American Law Institute since 1923 on major legal topics Each Restatement has its own index Second Restatements also contain cross-references to the key numbering system (West) and to the A.L.R. series (Lawyers' Co-Op
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Dictionaries
Question Answer Name the Law Dictionaries Black's Law Dictionary and Ballentine's Law Dictionary Citation for Dictionsaries Black's Law Dictionary 411 (7th ed. 1992) Dictionary citations are not underlined or italicized
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Treatises
Question Answer Treatises are called honbooks Treatises are single volume text written by legal scholar in given topic area Treatiees provides more explanation than a legal encyclopedia
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Digests
Question Answer To locate Case Law use digest Can you cite to a digest? No Digests typically contain a table of cases listed by both plaintiff & defendant name & a descriptive word index to help find correct topic area Some digests contain a "Words and Phrases Section" Words and Phrases reference books are published by West Name the Digests United States Supreme Court Digest published by West, United States Supreme Court Digest, Lawyers' Edition published by Lawyers' Co-Op, and the American Digest System published by West American Digest System is a Continuing digest series that collects headnote summaries from all federal & State courts (combined) Whar are the American Digest Systems series Decennial Digest 10-year periods & General Digest current
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Updating Case Law
Question Answer Use what to find current statuts of a case Shepard's Citations Shepard's Citations are updated annually with bright yellow paperback volumes Shepard's Citations are updated monthly with smaller, red paperback advance sheets
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Locating Statutes
Question Answer To locate Statutes use General Index included in volumes accompanying each statutory code(federal and state) Statutory Indices are arranged alphabetically by topic or subject matter To update Statutory Law use Statutory supplements
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Parallel Citations
Question Answer Are there parallel citations for U.S. Supreme Court Cases no, cite to United States Reports only Must you use parallel citations for in-state citations? yes
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Question Answer What is the universally accepted authority on legal citations? Uniform System of Citations
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Looseleaf Services
Question Answer Looseleaf services are published by Bureau of National Affaris & Commerce Clearing House Abbreviation for Bureau of National Affairs BNA Abbreviation for Commerce Clearing House CCH Which seconary authority is devoted to a specific topic of law? Looseleaf services Looseleaf services compiles allrelevant primary authority Does looseleaf services have its own topical index? yes
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Question Answer What is a scope note? it tells reseracher coverage of particular diget topic Name Secondary Authorities Legal encyclopedias, American Law Reports, Restatements, Dictionaries, Treatises, Periodicals, Digests Name Primary Authorities constitutions, statutes, case law, rules of procedure, rules of evidence, administrative rules, court rules, executive rules
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Opinions
Question Answer Majority opinion opinion issed by the majority of judges of the appellate court Concuring opinion opinion issed by one or more judges of the appellate court which agrees with the result reached by the majority but disagrees with the reasoning of the majority opinion dissenting opinion opinion issued by one or more judges of the appealate court which disagrees with both the result and the reasoning of the majority opinion per curiam opinion opinion of the entire court, as opposed to an opinion written by a specific judge en banc the entire court participates rather than the permissible quorum memorandum opinion a very brief opinion
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Question Answer de novo new, from the beginning, as if it had never been tried before de novo on the record new on the record, must base decision on the record, no new testimony on the record court reviews record for prejudicial legal errors
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