Chapter 6 - Computers and Internet Legal Research

Why is it still important to know how to research using print resources?

1. The organization and elements of the electronic databases are based on the structure of the print material. Therefore, a familiarity with the print source makes it much easier to understand the structure of the electronic database and conduct electronic research. 2. The material you are looking for may not be on an electronic database. This is especially true in the case of treatises and other secondary sources. Experienced researchers recognize that a research project may require knowledge of and reference to print resources. They do not rely exclusively on computer- assisted legal research. 3. On occasion, access to electronic research sources may be unavailable, such as when the local server is down. In such situations you are helpless if you do not know how to conduct research using print materials. 4. Cost concerns may limit the amount of time you can spend using commercial electronic services. Some firms use electronic services only to double-check what they have located in print sources or to update their research. This limits the time spent on electronic resources and thus reduces costs. 5. Content on non-fee-based law-related websites may not be up-to-date, reliable, or accurate. In addition these types of websites often have no means of updating your research.

Committee Reports

A committee report on a bill usually includes the text of the bill, the majority's reasons for recommending the bill, an analysis of the contents of the bill, and the minority's reasons for opposing the bill. Because the report clearly states the legislators' intent and is prepared by those who worked with the bill, the report is usually considered by courts as the most authoritative source of legislative history.

Practice and Form Books

American Jurisprudence Legal Forms 2d. This is a multivolume set arranged alphabetically. American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms Annotated. This is a multivolume set that is particularly useful for those in litigation practices. Bender's Federal Practice Forms. This is a multivolume set that contains litigation forms for both civil and criminal law. Bender's Forms of Discovery. This multivolume set by Lexis contains forms related specifically to civil discovery, such as sample interrogatories, requests for production, and deposition questions. Fletcher Corporation Forms Annotated. This set of forms is an example of content specific form books, and contains forms West's Legal Forms, 2d. This multivolume set by West has a wide variety of forms, including forms for areas such as real estate sales, business organizations, and bankruptcy.

A citation to a primary source located in a loose-leaf service includes these components

Basic citation to primary source, such as case name, or statutory code section and code abbreviation Volume number, name/abbreviation of service, and section or paragraph of loose-leaf service Parenthetical reference with the proper jurisdiction and/or date information that would make up the primary source citation

Why a researcher should be careful when using literally thousands of law-related websites that are either anonymous, are hosted by an advocacy group, or are rooted in special interests

Beware that on these types of websites, information may be limited or slanted in favor of the position advocated by the group or host. Law is always in motion and as such even experts in the field may produce legal resources or information that is less than objective or that has been analyzed through a specific lens - important

Congressional Debates

Congress may hold debates on a bill, and the records of the debates are published in the Congressional Record. During the debates, members of Congress present arguments for and against a bill and amendments to a bill. The debates often include explanations of provisions of the bill, its purpose, or how it applies. Many different and often contradictory reasons may be presented in support of a bill. For this reason, it may be difficult to determine legislative intent from the debates.

Committee Hearings

Congressional committees hold hearings to receive public input and expert testimony concerning proposed legislation. The records of the hearing are composed of transcripts of the legislators' questions and witness testimony along with exhibits and documents submitted. Some of the information may help explain how the legislation applies or the reason certain terms or phrases were used. The hearing records, however, include all arguments and information submitted by individuals and groups, both in support of, and opposition to, some or all of the legislation. It is difficult to determine on which testimony and information the committee relied. Therefore, the information from this source is usually used in support of other legislative history sources.

Congressional Bills

Each bill goes through several versions before it is passed. An examination of the terms or provisions deleted or added in the various versions of the bill may reveal the legislative intent. For Example An early version of the Housing Discrimination Act may have used the term citizen rather than person. Information gained through this source concerning legislative intent is based on the researcher's interpretation of what the legislature intended when it adopted different versions of a bill. Therefore, other legislative history sources are necessary to obtain additional support for a particular interpretation of legislative intent

Jury Instructions

Following the presentation of the evidence in a trial, the jury is instructed on the law that applies to the case, such as how terms are defined and what must be proven for a party to prevail. Most states adopt uniform or model jury instructions for the courts to follow when instructing the jury. These jury instructions are often published with the annotated statutes. If not, check at the local law library or with the court. If there is no approved set of jury instructions, there are several texts that include model jury instructions, such as Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms.

Congressional Information Service Print Indexes

Monthly CIS Index. Published twelve times a year, this index catalogs, abstracts, and indexes publications issued by Congress during the previous month. Annual CIS Index. Each year, this index is published and contains abstracts and index references which have been included in the monthly CIS Index. The Annual Index includes legislative histories since 1970 for all public laws enacted during the year. The Annual CIS Index supersedes the Monthly CIS Index and often has additional legislative history. CIS Multiple-year Cumulations. These multiple-year indexes revise and cumulate all of the indexes for the years covered. They do not include the abstracts from the Annual Indexes.

Legislative history may be of assistance in several ways.

On some occasions, a law that governs a client's fact situation may be written in such a manner that the meaning of the law is unclear. The lack of clarity may be due to the use of an ambiguous term or phrase, or the law may be written so broadly that it is unclear how it is supposed to apply in a specific factual situation. The courts may resolve the matter by looking to the legislative history of the law to determine the legislature's intended meaning of a term or phrase, or the intention as to when or how the law applies. Legislative history may be of assistance in several ways.

Presidential materials

Presidential materials are directives issued by the President of the United States. The two main types are proclamations and executive orders. Proclamations are announcements that have no legal effect, such as declaring a week, for example, "National Bicyclers Week." Executive orders cover a wide range of topics and are usually directives to agencies. These directives have the force of law. Presidential proclamations and executive orders are published in the Federal Register, CFR, USCCAN, and the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (published by the Office of the Federal Register). They are also available on Westlaw and LexisNexis, and on the Government Printing Office website.

Pre-Compiled Legislative Histories

Public Laws Legislative Histories on Microfiche, published by Commerce Clearing House (CCH) Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, compiled by Bernard D. Reams, Jr. • Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodicals, Articles, and Books, compiled by Nancy P. Johnson

How to select a non-fee-based site?

Sites maintained by government entities, such as legislatures and courts, are usually well maintained, and often more up-to-date than not, but they may not be completely current. Always consider the author/publisher and content of the information, and check the site to determine how frequently the information is updated. There are other non-fee-based websites that are frequently used by legal professionals and are considered among the more reliable websites. These include law school websites or law school hosted websites and bar association websites.

Common Features of Periodical Indexes

Subject/author index. Articles are indexed alphabetically by both subject and author. If you know the name of the author or you know the subject, such as "assault and battery," you can use this index to locate articles. The index includes the title of the article, the name of the author, and the name and date of the publication 2. Table of cases. Cases that have been noted or discussed in articles are indexed alphabetically by the names of both the plaintiff and the defendant. Following the case name are citations to the articles. 3. Table of statutes. If you know the name of a statute, this index will direct you to articles that have discussed the statute. 4. Book reviews. The book review index lists by book title and the periodicals that have reviewed the title.

The Congressional Index

The Congressional Index is a loose-leaf service published by Commerce Clearing House (CCH). This publication includes various information on bills such as indexes of bills by subject and sponsor, a summary of each bill, tables of actions taken on a bill, companion bills, and voting records on a bill. It does not include the text of the bill, debates, committee reports, and so on, but it is still a valuable aid in locating documents.

The Congressional Information Service (CIS)

The Congressional Information Service (CIS), by ProQuest, is a commercial publication that is considered one of the most comprehensive publications of legislative history documents. Pamphlets, which are published monthly, are assembled into annual bound volumes.

The Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is a record of the debates on the floor of the Senate and House. This record is useful if you are interested in reviewing the floor debates on a bill. It includes an index that references such items as debates, committee reports, and passage information. Information is indexed by subject matter and history. For information in the history section, you must know the House and Senate bill numbers of the legislation.

Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory

The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, published by LexisNexis, is a comprehensive directory of attorneys. The multivolume set, arranged alphabetically by state, provides attorneys' names and biographical information, such as date of admission to the bar, law school attended, and publications. There is a multivolume International Law Directory listing attorneys from foreign countries. Martindale-Hubbell is available on LexisNexis and the directory website.

U.S.C.C.A.N. - United States Code and Congressional and Administrative News

The USCCAN service publishes the texts of federal statutes and committee reports. West publishes an edition for each session of Congress in monthly pamphlets that are subsequently assembled in bound volumes after each session concludes. Through this source, you can identify the reports and other sources from which you can assemble the legislative history.

A citation to a restatement

The full name and edition of the Restatement. In ALWD Guide format, the full name of the edition is italicized or underlined, including a subtitle if the reference is to a subtitle. Bluebook format does not underline or italicize either. The section symbol (§) and number of the Restatement The year of the publication in parentheses Bluebook—Reinstatement (Second) of Judgments § 28 (1982). ALWD Guide—Reinstatement (Second) of Judgments § 28 (1982). Bluebook—Reinstatement (Second) of Torts: Products Liability § 52 (1989). ALWD Guide—Reinstatement (Second) of Torts: Products liability § 52 (1989).

Non-fee-based websites

There are literally thousands of non-fee-based websites on the Internet. Note that a non-fee-based service does not involve a contractual relationship with the consumer of its information. No laws or regulations govern the accuracy of the content of non-fee-based websites. Such sites do not have a legal duty to provide information that is accurate or up-to-date. However, there is an ethical obligation to provide the client with competent representation. Therefore, you must verify the accuracy of information you obtain from such sites and determine if it is up-to-date.

Sources for Locating and Compiling Federal Legislative History

There are several avenues to pursue when you compile the legislative history of an enacted federal statute. The starting point of your research is to locate the statute in the United States Code, United States Code Annotated, or the United States Code Service and review the history of the statute in the annotations. This will provide you with several pieces of information necessary to locate the legislative history, including the public law number, the date the law was enacted, the Statutes at Large number, and where the law is published in the United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN).

Legislative History

Use to determine the meaning or application of a law. This may be helpful when the meaning of a law that governs a fact situation is unclear, or when the law is written so broadly that its application to a specific fact situation is unclear.

Loose-leaf services

Volume of the loose-leaf service Name of the service Publisher Section or paragraph number (including section or paragraph symbol) Date in a parenthetical reference A citation to a primary source located in a loose-leaf service includes these components: 1. Basic citation to primary source, such as case name, or statutory code section and code abbreviation 2. Volume number, name/abbreviation of service, and section or paragraph of loose-leaf service 3. Parenthetical reference with the proper jurisdiction and/or date information that would make up the primary source citation