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| Generic term recently made law, separately issued in pamphlet form. Will generally have a unique number reflecting order in which it was passed and perhaps a popular name. |
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| Slip law bound together in chronological order with other slip laws passed in the same session. Identical to slip laws, with the same numbering system. (EX: U.S. Statutes at Large.) Often used to trace the development of current law. |
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| Compilation of current laws in force for a jurisdiction, arranged by topic. (Process of compiling = codification). Regularly updated as new laws are passed. (USC's official code set published every six years and kept updated with annual supplements.) |
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| A re-numbered session law fit into the topical scheme of its jurisdiction's code. |
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| An existing code provision is removed by a new session law. |
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| An existing code provision has text inserted and/or removed by a new law. |
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| Same as a code, with references to executive materials, cases, secondary sources related to particular sections. (EX: USCS) Usually published commercially. |
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| U.S.C.C.A.N. (United States Code Congressional and Administrative News) |
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| Serial publication of new laws as passed by Congress. |
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| Chronological compilation of session laws passed by Congress, official, published yearly. |
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| Slip laws passed Congress. (federal) |
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| Authoritative text of a law when disputed between two sources. Generally the most recent publication. (EX: Slip law is positive over bill text, but publication of session laws will make session laws positive over slip laws, at least until code is updated.) |
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| Monthly service that provide text of public and private laws, concurrent resolutions, presidential proclamations, published before the official version of session laws. (EX: USCCAN) |
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| Statute / law that creates agencies, gives them powers, and limits those powers. (a.k.a. "organic act") |
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| Official source of proposed administrative rules and regulations at the federal level, published in chronological order, every business day (M-F). Includes agency regulations, presidential proclamations, Executive Orders, notices of meetings, proposed regulations, agency organizations and policy statements, regulator agendas, and records of agency hearings. Began with Federal Register Act of 1935. |
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| Code of Federal Regulations |
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| Codification by subject of all final rules and regulations of the federal agencies currently in effect. Includes final regulations, certain presidential and executive documents, and Updated by monthly pamphlet List of Sections Affected, which cites to relevant pages of the Federal Register. Published in quarterly installments. |
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| Official monthly publication of consolidated table of contents for that month's issues, arranged by agency. Cumulative through the year, so that the December index is the official index for that year. Includes table converted page number (citation) to date (appears on spine.) |
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| CIS Federal Register Index |
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| Commercial weekly publication, cumulated periodically with semiannual bound volumes. More thorough than official index. |
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Definition
1.) Understand the assignment
2.) Develop a list of terms (TARP, etc.)
3.) Figure out the legal research issue
4.) Prepare a plan to conduct research and document
5.) Learn about the topic through secondary sources
6.) Find primary sources for the positive law from your jurisdiction (both mandatory and persuasive)
7.) Update your research |
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| Updating Tools (in general) |
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Definition
1.) Pocket parts and supplements
2.) Shepards / KeyCite / citators
3.) Online information not in print
4.) News on the subject or recent journal articles |
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| Documents created by government bodies which have the force of law, including: cases, statutes, and regulations. |
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| Materials written about the law to assist our understanding of primary legal resources, including: study aids, hornbooks, encyclopedias, administrative and legislative materials, treatises, restatements and annotations. |
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| Comprehensive sets of books that provide a basic overview of broad areas of law. Useful for: introduction to a subject, quick answer to a question. Not useful for: extensive detail. |
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| Series of books containing detailed articles about very narrow, specific points of law, with non-comprehensive coverage. (EX: ALRs). Useful for: exhaustive detail, survey of case law, major issues of a question. |
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| Magazines, journals, and other publications that come out periodically. Law reviews are published by law schools and have long, scholarly articles about new legal issues or recent cases. Good for: interesting angles on a legal issue, footnote citations. Not good for: practical information. See also: bar journals, newsletters. |
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| Thorough, detailed, and practical discussion of a specific area of law, written by a expert in that area. Useful for: exhaustive detail, extensive footnotes. May vary by depth of coverage. |
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| Thorough, detailed, and practical discussion of a specific area of law, written by a expert in that area. Useful for: exhaustive detail, extensive footnotes. May vary by depth of coverage. |
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| Summaries of law written with the goal of distilling a legal subject into precise, concise statements, by the American Law Institute. Useful for: courts often adopt a Restatement view on a particular question, can be authoritative. |
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| Update primary legal authority: case law, statutes, constitutions, court rules, jury instructions, CFR, and even some secondary sources. Online: Shepard's and KeyCite. |
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| Case being checked in the citator for references. |
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| Case that refers to your case in the citator |
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| Describes what has happened to the cited case in the citator. |
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| Describes how citing cases have dealt with the citing case in the citator. |
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| Terms and connectors that are used to formulate search strings, like Boolean operators and proximity connectors. Some engines allow word truncation and automatically retrieve singular/plural forms. |
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| Use to search for terms of art, proper names, or adjacent terms that you would normally expect for that issue. (Westlaw needs quotes, Lexis does not.) |
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| Westlaw Singular / Plural |
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Definition
Singular retrieves all forms, while plural only retrieves plural forms.
- # retrieves both singular and singular possessive.
- Singular possessive retrieves only that form.
- Pluralization retrieves irregular plural words, like "geese." |
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| LexisNexis Singular/Plural |
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System retrieves all forms by default.
- SING retrieves only singular forms
- PLUR retrieves only plural forms
- Pluralization does not retrieve irregular plural forms. |
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Westlaw: Use of a hyphen will retrieve all forms of compound words.
LexisNexis: Does not have this feature, must use "or" and each form you want to search for. |
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Westlaw: search for variations by separating letters with periods, no spaces. Does not retrieve acronym spelled out.
Lexis: Does not have this feature, must use "or" and all forms. |
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Allow you to search for different forms of a word or variations in spelling:
- Root expanders: Will find variations of root word. EX: acquir!
- Universal characters: Represent a single character at any point in the term. EX: Wom*n |
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AND = All the specified terms
OR = At least one of the specified terms
% = NOT, excludes documents with a particular word or phrase (Use NOT on Lexis) |
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AND = All the specified terms
OR = At least one of the specified terms
% = NOT, excludes documents with a particular word or phrase (Use NOT on Lexis) |
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