A document that establishes the law on a particular issue

• Generally binding upon the court

• Created by government authority

• Courts have discretion to interpret

- Constitutions

- Statutes

- Cases

- Treaties

- Executive Orders

- Administrative Regulation

Persuasive if from another jurisdiction

Any publication that indexes, summarizes, or interprets the law

• Great place to begin research • Should be used as persuasive authority only • Often adopted as law by the court when primary authority is absent

- legal encyclopedias

- teatises

- law review article

- IICLE

- restatements

- model codes

Supreme Court cases are best.

Appellate court rulings in the same district as your case.

Cases with similar facts are best “on point”.

Plessy v. Ferguson: case title

163: volume of reporter

U.S.: title of Reporter

537: page number

1896: year case was published; also states type of court

also lists the page of the holding

It is listed after the first page of the case

• As each law is passed, it is printed as a looseleaf, unbound pamphlet

• At the end of each Congressional session, slip laws are taken together and placed in the back of hardback United States at Large

• Available at US Government Depository Libraries

• Available as early as 5-7 days after law is enacted

US Code Congressional & Administrative News Service

• Monthly pamphlet printed by West

• Contains complete text of all public laws passed during the previous month

• Weekly publication contains complete text of more significant public laws enacted during the previous week

• USCS Advance pamphlets

• Monthly text of newly enacted public laws enacted during the previous month

• Summaries of proposed legislation, too

• The code only recites the exact text of a statute without comment regarding to law or any cases that may have interpreted it

• Arranged into 50 categories or “titles”

42 – TITLE

USC– SET

1396 – SECTION NUMBER

2000 – YEAR

US Code Annotated

• Published by West

• Annotated: with notes

• Historical and statutory notes

• Cross references

• Library references: directs you to sources in the library that deal with the topic

• Westlaw queries

• Code of Federal Regulations o That relate to the statute

• Also contained in annotations

• Very important!

• If a case has discussed, interpreted, or construed the statute, it will be listed here

• Includes a brief description of the case

United State Code Service

• LEXIS annotated version of the USC

• Contains: history, code of federal regulations, cross references, research guide, interpretation notes, and decisions

• Update on the law

• YOU MUST ALWAYS CHECK THESE

• USCA & USCS are updated annually

• Should also check statutory supplements

• Descriptive word approach
  • General index after last volume
• Title/topic approach
  • If you are familiar with topic
  • Can go directly to table of contents
• Popular name approach
  • Popular name table contains a list of federal laws known by their popular names

• Contained in both USCA & USCS

• Lists annotations to cases that have interpreted the Constitution

• Process of enacting and publishing legislation at the state level is very similar to the federal

• Most states, except NE, have two chambers

• Many initially published in slip form

• State codifications may be called “codes”

• Most stated have annotated codes

• Some states arrange by title and chapter

• Some by named codes

• Contain the constitution of the state

• Are organized by the subject matter

• Have a general index

• Are kept current by pocket parts

• Have annotations

• Have historical notes

• Contain conversion tables – if statute has been repealed or renumbered

• Unpublished cases
  • Most appellate cases
  • Don’t ignore them
  • Can be used as persuasive argument

• Published cases
  • Generally under certain criteria

• Case name

• Docketing number and Deciding Court

• Date of decision

• Case synopsis

• Headnotes

• Name of counsel

• Opinions

• Decision

Elements of a Case

Case Name

Identifies all parties involved in the case

When writing the citation of the case, we only use the first party for each side.

Elements of a Case

Docketing Number and Deciding Court

Docketing number used by Deciding court to organize their files.

Will rarely use the Docketing number.

Always need to know the Deciding court, because it can be the difference between binding and persuasive authority.

Elements of a Case

Date of Decision

Don’t ignore

Always will desire newer cases

Courts will consider trends in the law or the consistency of the rule over time

Elements of a Case

Case Synopsis

 Summary of the case

NOT WRITTEN BY THE COURT – DO NOT CITE TO THESE WORDS

Elements of a Case

Headnotes

NOT WRITTEN BY THE COURT – DO NOT CITE TO THESE WORDS

Book not correct about number of issues

Use a tool to quickly find part of case that is important to your issue

Elements of a Case

Name of Counsel

Can be useful tool for unfamiliar fields of law

See how other rulings for that counsel have turned out

Sometimes opposing counsel is named in the case law

Elements of a Case

Opinions

• Majority: More than half the judges
  • Majority opinion is law
  • Binding authority

• Concurring: Opinion by judge who agrees with the majority but agrees for different reason
  • not binding
  • Can be used as persuasive argument

• Dissenting: Minority opinion
  • Not binding can be used as persuasive
  • Particularly useful if facts in your case are distinguishable from the Majority

Elements of a Case

Decision

• Affirm

• Reverse

• Remand

• Vacate

• Almost always at least two reporters for each case

• The importance of multiple reporters becomes less important with the advance of Westlaw
  • Parallel citation
  • Star pagination

• Arrange cases by subject matter
• Such as:
  • Landlord & tenant
  • Contracts
  • Civil procedure
• Provide a small amount of info from a case

**NEVER CITE FROM A DIGEST**

Organized by 2 “key” points:

Subject heading

Key number

• Do not memorize

• Topics are merely a starting place

• Topics are divided into many subtopics

Digests

descriptive word search

• Search using common words

• Exactly the same as searching in Westlaw

• Use as many descriptive words that you can think of

Digests

topic approach

• Digests are organized by same topics as listed

• Topic search means pulling the volume with that topic and going through it

• Westlaw has streamlined digest process

• Digest research has become obsolete

• However, still some advantages:
  • Same key system
  • Same headnotes
  • Flipping method

• Table of cases approach

• Case on point approach

• You already have the case, so you don’t need the digest.

• Everyone calls it ALR

• Very good secondary source – persuasive arguments

• Provides a synopsis of an area of law without having to read through many cases

• Annotations – reference to cases used

• Organized in outline form, so that you don’t have to read through the whole essay

• Not binding

• Limited areas of law

• Limited area of citations

Corpus Juris Secundum

legal encyclopedia

Each topic has an outline

“Black Letter” law is boldface

West Publication

Key Number system

Different from CJS in that it provides representative cases instead of all cases

West Publication

Key Number system

• Concentration on common law issues

• Little statutory discussions

• Both have key system

• Both have a scope narrative paragraph

• Both have annotations to support cases

• Am Jur Proof of Facts

• Am Jur Jury Trials

• Am Jur Pleading and Practice Forms

• Am Jur Legal Forms

Search method similar to all other researching

• Descriptive word
• Topic approach
• Table of statutes
• Table of cases

• IL encyclopedia

• Very easy to read

• Often can cite as very persuasive in Illinois

• Tend to address new areas of the laws

• Trends in the law

• Suggestions for change in the law

• Often very specialized and narrow subject

• Can be cited as persuasive authority

• Given more weight than other periodicals

• Get sent to atty, whether or not we want them

• Serve as good notice to changes in the law

• Often provide overviews of law

• Almost always written by practitioners in their special areas

• Almost all bars have a publication

• Chicago Daily Law Bulletin

• Articles about lawyers

• Updates in the law

• Info about legislation

• Good place to look for job advertisements

• Usually voluminous

• About one subject

• Written by one or two authors

• Often can be cited as persuasive authority

• Similar to treatises

• Often written by multiple authors

• Limited number of topics

• Often adopted by courts if there is no other authority

• Books says that they are the most highly regarded

• Most courts do not require full citations
• Cite official reporter
• Use pinpoint citation in legal memorandum if multiple pages are used, pinpoint cite multiple pages.
• Once a case has been cited in full, you can refer to it by the first party or second party, whichever is shorter.
• To cite to a case a second time with pinpoint [Wiebler, 266 Ill. App. 3d at 370]
• To cite to a case a third time with pinpoint [Id., at 371] Id means last case cited
• Id alone means last case cited and same page

Any legal authority, or source of law, that a court may look to for guidance but on which it need not rely in making its decision.

cases from other jurisdictions

discussions in legal periodicals, etc.

Unofficial

District

West's Federal Supplements (F.Supp. or F.Supp.2d)

Circuit

West's Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d)

United States Supreme Court Decisions

Official:

United States Reports (U.S.)

Unofficial:

West's Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.)

West's Lawyers' Edition of Supreme Court Reports (L.Ed. or L.Ed.2d)