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LRW Citation Quiz > Terms and Concepts > Flashcards

Terms and Concepts Flashcards

1
Q

sources of law

A

legislative, judiciary, and executive branches of government

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2
Q

primary vs secondary sources

A

primary: sources of law, including cases, statutes, acts, codes, executive orders, regulations, treaties; secondary: commentary to explain the law but not binding; treatises, legislative history, law journals, legal encyclopedias, restatements

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3
Q

constitutions

A

document that organizes government, ensures basic rights, all later laws are judged against that document; US Constitution also states have Constitutions, state cons cannot conflict with fed but it can afford more rights

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4
Q

common law v enacted law

A

common law: law that came from cases; enacted law comes from legislature

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5
Q

statutes v regulations

A

both are primary law. statutes come from legislature; regulations are created by executive agencies; statutes overrule regulations

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6
Q

functions of statutes

A

Clarify the law for the public, put the public on notice, more general and accessible to public; change the common law; can address broader situations where cases just focus on facts in front of court; codify patchwork of common law

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7
Q

relationship between statutes and cases

A

cases can interpret statutes; statutes overrule cases; judicial review - power of courts to review statutes for constitutionality

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8
Q

hierarchy of authority between federal and state

A

each system is separate, but state courts may hear federal law and vice versa

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9
Q

federal v state law

A

federal statutes and state statutes are separate bodies of law; may run into federal law in state courts and vice versa

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10
Q

jurisdiction

A

which court has the right to hear a case; subject matter jurisdiction - the substance of the case; personal jurisdiction - whether the court has power to bind a person with a ruling; venue - geography

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11
Q

Basis for federal court jurisdiction

A
  1. diversity jurisdiction 2. question of federal law 3. if US is a party
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12
Q

WI court names

A

circuit court; court of appeals (unified court, 4 districts); WI Supreme Court

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13
Q

Federal court names

A

District Court (District Court for the Western District of WI); Circuit Court of Appeals (7th Circuit); Supreme Court

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14
Q

co-equal vs unified courts of appeals

A

co-equal: sister courts do not have to follow each other’s rulings; unified: all court of appeals districts are binding on all trial courts and court of appeals cannot contradict each other

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15
Q

Federal Circuit Courts

A

13 federal courts of appeals; 12 regional courts; 11 numbered courts based on geography; 12th is DC court also based on geography; Federal Circuit - subject matter jurisdiction over specialized cases such as patent law

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16
Q

stages of a civil case

A

complaint, answer, discovery, trial, post-trial

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17
Q

bench trial

A

trial before a judge instead of a jury; judge decides law and facts

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18
Q

fact-finding

A

typical role of the jury; what happened in a case

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19
Q

motion

A

request the court to do something

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20
Q

affirmative defense

A

saying I didn’t do it, but if I did do it, here’s why I should not be held liable or found guilty

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21
Q

precedent and stare decisis

A

a court must follow their own previous decisions - promotes fairness, efficiency, and predictability

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22
Q

binding v persuasive authority

A

binding - a court must follow it; persuasive - a court may choose to follow it; a binding decision is a decision from a court in your appeals chain

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23
Q

case of first impression

A

a case that has not been seen by a court before

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24
Q

standards of review

A

lens through which the appeals court will review a case; measuring stick of how they will judge an appeal regardless of the underlying subject matter

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25
Q

de novo review

A

higher court reviewing a lower court decision; they look at the questions of law with no deference to the lower court;’s decision

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26
Q

concurring opinion

A

a judge reaches the same conclusion as the majority, but for different or additional reasons

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27
Q

dissenting opinion

A

a judge disagrees with the majority

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28
Q

holding v dicta

A

holding: binding decision by the court; dicta: not binding in theory, but judges have different views, commentary that is not necessary to resolving the issue of the case

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29
Q

per curiam opinion

A

opinion by the court as a whole, anonymous, usually for very routine and noncontroversial cases

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30
Q

reverse and render v reverse and remand

A

Reverse and render: higher court reverses the decision as matter of law; reverse and remand: higher court reverses the decision but there are facts to be decided so it has to be retried by the lower court

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31
Q

reverse v overrule

A

reverse is when a higher court changes the ruling of the lower court in a case; overrule is when a court changes its mind later, could be ten years later; WI Supreme Court has said that WI Court of Appeals is not allowed to overrule its own decisions

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32
Q

appeal by right v discretionary review

A

appeal by right: intermediate appellate courts have to take an appeal; discretionary review: highest court does not have to hear an appeal; you have to talk them into taking the case

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33
Q

petition for certiorari

A

Request for discretionary review; have to convince the high court 1. to take your case and 2. why court of appeals erred; Note: High court decision to deny review is not a comment on the merits, nothing substantive.

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34
Q

en banc

A

All the judges of the intermediate court of appeals hear a case. Appeals are typically heard by 3-judge panels

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35
Q

state, regional and federal reporters

A

Federal District Reporter: F. Supp.; Federal Circuit Court of Appeals: F. F.2d. F.3d. (Federal Reporter Third Series); SCOTUS: U.S., S Court, Lawyer’s Edition; State reporters are less frequent these days: WI official reporter is Wis. 2d.; Regional reporter: commercially published, unofficial reporter for state appellate cases N.W.2d. (N.W. includes WI, Iowa, Mich, Minn, Neb, ND, SD)

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36
Q

Citation spacing rule

A

No space between adjacent single capital letters. In all other situations, put a space between abbreviations. Ex: Wis. 2d (space), N.W.2d (no space)

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37
Q

stages of a case publication

A

slip opinion, advance sheets, bound volume

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38
Q

slip opinion

A

a single opinion issued first out of a court and not yet published

39
Q

advance sheet

A

second stage of publishing cases; paperback pamphlet containing recent decisions by a court

40
Q

components of a case

A

caption/style, headnotes, syllabus, judge, opinion, holding, disposition

41
Q

functions of a headnote

A

summary of different points in the opinion, heading classifies topic/subtopic that you can use in a digest function

42
Q

headnote number v. topic and key number

A

headnote number is where the headnote appears in the opinion; topic is the high level topic of the law (“Constitutional Law” - does not change case to case) and key number is the number of the digest subtopic; topic and key numbers are the same across all jurisdictions

43
Q

Westlaw headnotes v Lexis headnotes

A

Westlaw: written by editors; Lexis: direct quotes from the opinion

44
Q

digests

A

collection of headnotes in a particular jurisdiction

45
Q

citators

A

Shepherd’s and Keycite. Citators list cases that have cited the case you are looking at; can use to verify good law, but the algorithm will not catch a later ruling in which the court overrules all cases to the contrary; only catches cases that specifically cite your case

46
Q

natural language v Boolean and Boolean examples

A

natural language search uses normal language key words; Boolean search uses connectors to narrow the search (/s, /#, “and”, /p, !)

47
Q

ways to filter online search results

A

jurisdiction, date, type of source, narrow search terms, etc.

48
Q

types and uses of secondary sources

A

use to get a broad understanding of a topic, learn key terms of art, find primary sources; types: encyclopedias, treatises, ALRs, law journals, etc.

49
Q

legal encyclopedias (names on national versions)

A

The two most popular general legal encyclopedias are American Jurisprudence, 2d (Am. Jur.) and Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.)

50
Q

ALR annotations

A

American Law Reports; narrow reports on specific legal issues; provide a snapshot of how each jurisdiction is handling the issue

51
Q

law review v bar journal

A

Law review: narrow, theoretical articles written by professors of law schools; bar journal: broad, more practical-focused trade magazine published by bar association

52
Q

treatise

A

a book that goes into more depth than a casebook to explain an area of law

53
Q

Restatements

A

organized by area of law; restate how most jurisdictions treat issues; a non-binding treatise

54
Q

State CLE or practice materials

A

continuing legal education and practice guides

55
Q

Books Unbound

A

subscription-based online library of State Bar of WI; treatise for WI lawyers

56
Q

official v annotated statutes (names and features)

A

FED: official codes (United States Code - published every 6 years) only have the statute text and the date section was added; annotated statutes (US Code Annotated - Westlaw and US Code Services - Lexis) reference related cases, secondary sources, etc. WI: published in official code Wisconsin Statutes (Wis. Stat.) and unofficial code (Wis. Stat. Ann.) always cite to official statutes unless the statute is so new that it does not appear in the official code; in that case cite to unofficial code or to session law

57
Q

stages of statute publication

A

slip law, session law, codification into U.S.C. or Wis. Stat.

58
Q

slip laws - public law number

A

single law; Pub.L initial id number for a single new statute/ legislative equivalent of a docket number

59
Q

session laws

A

collection of laws that were passed during a legislative session, in chronological order; Statutes at Large are the official, federal session laws from US Congress

60
Q

codes

A

collection of enacted statutes organized by subject (Fed called titles; WI called chapters)

61
Q

plain language rule

A

statutes are to be interpreted using the ordinary meaning of the language of the statute. Ordinary words are given their ordinary meaning, technical terms are given their technical meaning, and local, cultural terms are recognized as applicable

62
Q

red flag words

A

signal words in statutory interpretation (i.e., and, or, shall, may, unless, except, if)

63
Q

tools of statutory interpretation

A

legislative history, canon of construction (expressio unius est exclusio alterius), plain language, parallel statutes, binding court interpretation (Stare Decisis)

64
Q

uniform or model laws

A

secondary sources, they can be adopted by the states and then those statutes are primary

65
Q

citation purpose

A

prove your work, helps the reader find the source, give credit where credit is due, show the strength of your statement

66
Q

basic components of a federal district court citation

A

name of case, volume of Federal Supplement, abbreviated name of reporter (F. Supp.), first page of case, name of the court, year case was decided; City of Millville v. Rock, 683 F. Supp. 2d 319 (D.N.J. 2010)

67
Q

basic components of a federal district court citation

A

name of case, volume of Federal Supplement, abbreviated name of reporter (F. Supp.), first page of case, pincite, name of the court, year case was decided; City of Millville v. Rock, 683 F. Supp. 2d 319 (D.N.J. 2010)

68
Q

basic components of a federal circuit court citation

A

name of case, volume of Federal Reporter, abbreviated name of reporter (F.2d), first page of case, pincite, name of the court, year case was decided; Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001)

69
Q

basic components of a federal Supreme Court citation

A

name of case, volume of United States Reports, abbreviated name of reporter (U.S.), first page of case, pincite, year case was decided; Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)

70
Q

pinpoint citations for federal cases

A

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 164 (1973); short form pincite: Corley, 273 F.3d at 435 OR 273 F.3d at 435 OR Id. at 435

71
Q

basic components of WI Supreme Court case citation before 2000 (traditional format)

A

name of case, volume of Wisconsin reporter, abbreviated name of state reporter (Wis. 2d), first page of case, volume of regional reporter, abbreviated name of regional reporter (N.W.2d), first page of case, year case was decided; Kellner v. Christian, 197 Wis. 2d 183, 539 N.W.2d 685 (1995).

72
Q

basic components of WI Court of Appeals case citation before 2000 (traditional format)

A

name of case, volume of Wisconsin reporter, abbreviated name of state reporter (Wis. 2d), first page of case, volume of regional reporter, abbreviated name of regional reporter (N.W.2d), first page of case, court level (Ct. App.) and year case was decided; Jones v. Poole, 217 Wis. 2d 116, 579 N.W.2d 739 (Ct. App. 1998).

73
Q

pinpoint citations for WI cases before 2000

A

you may pincite to Wisconsin’s reporter, or North West reporter, or both, but be consistent throughout the document with which parallel citation you pincite; Kellner v. Christian, 197 Wis. 2d 183, xxx, 539 N.W.2d 685, xxx (1995).

74
Q

basic components of WI Supreme Court case citation after 1/1/2000 (public domain format per rule SCR ch. 80)

A

case name, year decided, SC abbreviation (WI), sequential number, volume of Wisconsin reporter, abbreviated name of state reporter (Wis. 2d), first page of case, volume of regional reporter, abbreviated name of regional reporter (N.W.2d), first page of case; State v. Meeks, 2003 WI 104, 263 Wis. 2d 794, 666 N.W.2d 859.

75
Q

basic components of WI Court of Appeals case citation after 1/1/2000 (public domain format per rule SCR ch. 80)

A

case name, year decided, abbreviation (WI App), sequential number, volume of Wisconsin reporter, abbreviated name of state reporter (Wis. 2d), first page of case, volume of regional reporter, abbreviated name of regional reporter (N.W.2d), first page of case; Hart v. Bennet, 2003 WI App 231, 267 Wis. 2d 919, 672 N.W.2d 306.

76
Q

pincite for WI cases after 2000 (public domain format per rule SCR ch 80)

A

all paragraphs are numbered; pincite to a paragraph number instead of a page number; must pincite after public domain parallel citation (do not include pincite page numbers in citation to state reporter or citation to regional reporter); State v. Meeks, 2003 WI 104, ¶ 16, 263 Wis. 2d 794, 666 N.W.2d 859

77
Q

traditional format short form

A

Kubrick, 581 F.2d at 1099. or 581 F.2d at 1099. or ld. at 1099. or Id.

78
Q

public domain format short form

A

SF 1: Kitten, 2001 WI App 218, ¶ 17. OR Kitten, 247 Wis. 2d 661, ¶ 17. OR Kitten, 634 N.W.2d 583, ¶ 17. SF 2: 2001 WI App 218, ¶ 17. OR 247 Wis. 2d 661, ¶ 17. OR
634 N.W.2d 583, ¶ 17. SF 3: ld. ¶ 9. SF 4: Id.

79
Q

parallel citations

A

when the case is in multiple reporters; WI public domain will have 3 parallel citations; WI traditional format citation will have 2 parallel citations

80
Q

citing rule for unpublished cases in WI

A

Unpublished opinions on or after July 1, 2009 are okay to cite if they are authored by a judge. If they are per curiam (by the court) then you cannot cite it.

81
Q

cert. denied citation rule

A

do not need include in subsequent history if the case is more than two years old

82
Q

case name abbreviation rule

A

Table 6 in bluebook

83
Q

citing official federal statutes

A

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2012).

84
Q

citing official Wisconsin Statutes

A

Wis. Stat. § 21.36(2) (2017-18). (leave off year in short cite)

85
Q

passive verbs

A

hiding the actor of the sentence. May render the sentence ambiguous and wordy. Look for the verb “to be” or add the phrase “by someone” to the end. Ex. The defendant was approached by a police officer.

86
Q

nominalizations

A

expressing an action using a noun instead of a verb. Ex. Contained a requirement (instead of required)
To Fix: Identify the main action in the sentence and rewrite the nominalization to the corresponding verb

87
Q

Grammar: commas

A

(1) introductory clauses,
(2) before the conjunction between two independent clauses,
(3) oxford comma

88
Q

Grammar: apostrophes: plurals v possessives

A

do not use an apostrophe to create a plural name (correct: Joneses; incorrect: Jones’s);
plural possessive ex. Joneses’

89
Q

Grammar: subject-verb agreement

A
  1. subject should match the verb 2. A sentence with a compound subject has two separately named subjects that should be treated as one, plural subject. (he and she are…) 3. When presented with two possible subjects, choose the verb form that agrees with the subject closest to the verb. (table and chairs are…)
    Ex. I write. She writes. You write. They write. Ex. The jury finds for the plaintiff. (also an example of a collective noun)
    Ex. Joe and Mary have filed for divorce. Ex. Either Joe’s Sister or Mary’s family members get the mountain cabin in the divorce. Ex. The review committee, a group of educators, was prepared to review the curriculum.
90
Q

Grammar: subject-pronoun agreement

A

pronouns must agree to the words they refer to and refer to other nouns to gain their meaning; Clarity is key; Collective nouns should be treated as singular nouns for the purposes of verb conjugation and pronoun agreement (the board of directors decides…)
Note: Indefinite Pronouns are singular (Nothing; Anything; Nobody; Anything; Everyone)
Object (acted upon): Him-Whom
Ownership (Possession): His-Whose
Subject: He-Who
That: introduces information essential to the main idea of the sentence
Which: provides non-essential information and is separated by commas

91
Q

Grammar: Modifiers

A
  1. A modifier gives information about another word or phrase in a sentence. 2. Prepositional phrases, phrases that begin with the preposition. 3. Place a modifying phrase adjacent to the phrase it modifies to avoid confusion. 4. Place a modifying adverb adjacent to the verb it modifies to avoid confusion.
92
Q

Common rule structures in a memo

A

a rule with elements, a rule with exceptions, a factors test, a balancing test

93
Q

WI Citation important dates

A

July 1, 2009 - unpublished opinion

January 1, 2000 - public domain

LRW Citation Quiz (1 decks)

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