Legal Research
N.B.
"note well"
While the US Supreme Court is in session, slip opinions are issued as cases are decided. They are collected periodically and published in two different sets of advance sheets:
1) United States Law Week (U.S.L.W.) published by Bureau of National Affairs 2) United States Supreme Court Bulletin-published by Commerce Clearing House.
Federal Cases (F. Cas.)
1789-1880
Federal Reporter (F.)
1880 to 1924
Federal Reporter Second Series (F. 2d.)
1924-1932
Federal Supplement (F. Supp.) years
1932 to present
Memorandum opinion
A very brief opinion; cursory opinion; an opinion so abbreviated, it is hardly an opinion at all.
Which of the following provides background information for a research topic?
American Jurisprudence Second
A.L.R
American Law Reports
A decision of an administrative agency is classified as
Case law
If a researcher knows when a federal statute was enacted, which of the following provides the most direct access to the text of the statue?
Congressional Record
The federal supplement includes selected decisions from the
Court of International Trade
Executive Orders
Executive order, presidential proclamation, Treaty
True or False- The Federal Reporter Second series is an official reporter
False
True or False- The Federal Reporter, second series, includes all decisions made by the United States Courts of Appeals across the country.
False
True or False-The terms memorandum opinion and memorandum of law mean the same approximately the same thing.
False
True or False-The Federal Supplement is an official reporter
False-
The United States Courts of Appeals uses which unofficial publication?
Federal Reporter, Third Series, cited F.3d (1993-present) Federal Reporter, Second Series, cited F 2d. (1924-1993) Federal Reporter, cited F. (1880-1924) Federal Cases, cited F. Cas (1789-1880)
Federal Register (Fed. Reg.)
Federal administative rules and regulations are published chronologically at the time of their adoption.
Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.)
Federal administrative rules and regulations are published by subject matter aka codified.
How does the American Digest System organize cases?
It is cataloged under topics and subtopics assigned to key #s, using the TARP Method-Thing, Action, Relief, Parties
The Federal Supplement (F. Supp.)
NOT OFFICIAL REPORTER for united states district courts (no official reporter for the district courts). Selective publishing and not all cases are included. Cases decided by US Court of International Trade (formerly US Customs Court) are also reported selectively in the Federal Supplement.
United States Code (U.S.C.)
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION of federal law statutes: Selective codification of federal Statutes By topic
Statutes at Large (Stat.)
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION of federal law statutes: includes all laws enacted by Congress. THE ONLY COMPLETE COLLECTION OF FEDERAL STATUTORY LAW Chronological
The record of a court case includes
Pleadings, transcript of trial testimony, and exhibits
To determine whether a particular statute has been ruled unconstitutional by a court, one may use
Shepard's Citations, Statute Edition
State and local statues
States typically publish the session laws at the close of each legislative session.
Presidential proclamations are published in
Statutes at Large
Federal Session laws may be found in
Statutes at large
Legislative and Executive are classified as
Statutory
An executive order is classified as
Statutory law
Until 1932, cases from the Court of Appeals and US district courts were combined in
The Federal Reporter
What is the general index used for?
To locate statutory law and constitutional law.
True or False-Statutes are published as session laws before the are codified
True-Statues are published as session laws before they are codified
True of False-The American Digest System includes the Decennial Digests and a General Digest.
True-The American Digest System includes the Decennial Digests and a General Digest.
United States Code Service (U.S.C.S)
UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION of federal law statutes: Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Co. Extensive use of annotations.
United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.)
UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION of federal law statutes: West publication Co. Use the Key # system-# displayed on heading consistently.
The official reporter of the US Supreme court is
United States Reports
The United States District Courts uses which unofficial publication?
West
res judicata or adjudicated
a matter adjudicated
De novo on the recrod
base decision on the record-no new testimony. clean slate
Judicial is classified as
case law
U.S. Law Week
contains recent decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court
Obiter dictum is a latin word that refers to
courts comments about things other than the holding of the case.
FRD contains
decisions concerning federal rules of procedure
The U.S. Constitution may be found in the
first volume of the United States Code
List examples of secondary authority?
legal dictionary, treatise, restatement of law, encyclopedia
When a researcher intends to show that a statement in his or her brief is supported directly by the cited case, the researcher should use which of the following signals with citation?
none needed
stare decisis
previously decided
Local statues aka
public ordinances aka local statues
Define case de novo
reviews the record for errors of law and reaches its own factual finding . tried as though it had not been tried previously, witnesses are allowed to testify.
List examples of primary authority
rules of procedure, case law, statutes, constitution
US Supreme Courrt
slip opiion advance sheets: USLW-BNA and S. Ct. Bulletin (Comm. Clrng. IIso) reporter: U.S. (official), S. Ct. (unofficial-West); L. Ed. 2d (unofficial-Lawyers Co-op)
US Court of Appeals
slip opinion advance sheets reporter: F.2d (unofficial-West) Selected cases only
To update the status of a particular, one may use a(n)
supplement volume or pocket part supplement
res ipsa loquitor
the thing speaks for itself
jury
triers of fact
Star paging
used to refer to the page number of the original reporter when a case is reprinted in another reporter
