Week 2 Flashcards
series of volumes that contain the text of published cases
case reporters
Official reporters are sanctioned by (1) or (2)
- statute
2. court rule
Most reporters only publish (1) court cases
- appellate
2 types of records that are not available to the public
- juvenile court records
2. records ordered sealed by the judge
freestanding paper pamphlets that supplement reporter sets and are eventually replaced by bound volumes
advance sheets
6 things that may be contained in advance sheets
- table of cases contained in the volume
- table of statutes interpreted in the cases reported
- subject index of cases reported
- lists of presiding judges
- revisions in local court rules
- subsequent history tables (what has happened to the cases since volume)
(1) are “finding tools” and are not cited.
Digests
Digests include topics arranged (1) and subdivided into (2) that represent subtopics. Within these subtopics, abstracts of cases are arranged by (3).
- alphabetically
- key numbers
- jurisdiction
The (1) is used by the researcher to look up key words that describe the legal issues or factual elements of the questions being researched.
Descriptive Word Index
Most print digests are kept up to date with annual (1) which provide the newest cases added to the Digest.
pocket parts
Choose the digest most (1) to your research topic.
- narrowly focused (jurisdiction-wise)
The (1) is usually the best starting point to the digest.
Descriptive Word Index
a case finding tool–publishes an annotation or review article discussing a topic along with the full text of a represetantive case. Discusses all sides of the issue.
American Law Reports (ALR)
A quick way to determine the appellate structure and names of various courts is to consult Tables T1 and T7 of the (1).
Bluebook
Section (1) of TMLL contains sources for various federal rules
10 (10)
(1) and (2) often provide a framework for further research and may provide citations to key federal cases
- Hornbooks
2. treatises
(1), (2) and (3) can also be good starting points for research.
- Law review articles
- general encyclopedias (American Jurisprudence, Corpus Juris Secundum)
- ALR, ALR Federal
(1) is a critical step to take prior to beginning research of a federal question. Identify the (2).
- Identifying jurisdiction
2. circuit
(1) or (2) can be used for locating federal statutes.
- United State Code Annotated
2. United States Code Service
Knowing whether the approach your circuit is taking is consistent with (1) is an important part of the bigger picture; use (2) for this purpose.
- national trends
2. ALR Federal
(1) and (2) are good for ensuring that cases you are planning to cite are good law.
- Shepard’s on Lexis
2. KeyCite on Westlaw
Returning to (1) and (2) toward the end of the research process may be a good ending step; helps to put things into perspective.
- treatises
2. law review articles
Primary sources are (1) which come from the (2).
- case law
2. judicial branch
Case law is published by (1) depending on jurisdiction. Opinions are usually published if they regard a (2) or something in the (3). The decision whether to publish an opinion is made by a (4). For state court, the opinions must be (5)
- judges
- change in law
- public interest
- panel of judges for the court
- appellate
Federal trial-level opinions are published in (1). Federal Circuit Court opinions are published in (2). Supreme Court opinions are published in (3), (4) or (5).
- Federal Supplement Reporters
- Federal Reporters
- US Reports (published by government, official)
- Supreme Court Reporter (unofficial)
- US Reports, Lawyer’s Edition (unofficial)
The National Reporter system is broken into (1) regions and includes only (2). Arizona is in the (3). By contrast, the official place for Arizona appellate decisions is in the (4)
- 7
- state appellate decisions
- Pacific Reporter
- Arizona Reports
4 separate places to find case law
- Bankruptcy Reporters
- Tax Reporters
- Military Justice Reporters
- Federal Rules Decisions (interpretations of rules/sanctions)
Reporters are ordered (1). A volume has (2), and sometimes a book has (3). Each set of 999 volumes = a (4).
- chronologically
- pages
- multiple volumes
- series
one judicial opinion, usually published on the court’s website as an addendum
slip opinion
several judicial opinions, bound together to supplement a reporter
advance sheet
