Law in Books in the United States

Law in books Background

The Basics

The following is a description of the major sources of
statutes and administrative policy.

Federal – United States Code
This work contains a consolidation of all the general and permanent laws of the united
Sta’tes (Federal laws). It is arranged by title, e. g., Agriculture, Food and Drugs, Labor, Public Health and Welfare.
There, is, an index of acts cited by popu1ar names, as well
as a general subject index., In print, cumulative supplements cover the interim between editions.

Federal – United States Code Annotated- Like the United
States Code, this work contains all the general and permanent
laws of the United States. In addition, the annotated
edition adds the construction and interpretation
which the courts have given: showing the antecedents of
the particular acts or sections, with comments on the
sources and the character of the changes. Like the U.S.Code, the United States Code Annotated is arranged by title.

There is a general subject index and a popular name (of
statute) index. In print, updates of statutory languaje and recent
annotations are contained in “pocket parts” located at
thp back of each volume.

Federa1 – Code of Federal Regu1ations – The Code of Federal
Regulations is a codifications of the general and permanen’t
rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive
departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The
Code is divided into 50 tit1es(like the Unit8d States Code
and the United States Code Annotated) which represent the
broad areas subject to federal regulation. Each title is
divided into chapters which usually bear the name of the
issuing agency. Each chapter is further subdivided into
parts covering specific regulatory areas~ Each volume of
the Code is revised at least once each calendar year.

The CRR is kept up to date by the individual issues of the
Federal Register. These two pUblications must he used
together to determine thp latest version of any given
rule. In the print format, to determine whether there have been any amendments
since the revision date of the CFR volume, the following
two lists must be consulted; (1) cumulative “List of
CPR Sections Affected,” issued monthly; ann (2) “Cumulative
List of Parts Affected”; appearing daily in the
Federal Register.

These two lists will refer the user
to the Federal Register page where he or she may find
the latest amendment of any given rule.
The subject index to the Code, which is revised annually
and supplemented periodically, is contained in a separate
volume entitled “General Index.”

Federal – Case Reporters – Decisions by the United states
Supreme Court are collected in three reporter sets which
accumulate chronologically. The official reporter is the
United States Reports (U.S.). Also available are the Supreme
Court Reporter(S.Ci) and the Lawyer’s Edition(L.Ed.). Each
reporter carries the full text of the majority opinion
plus concurring and dissenting opinions. In slightly different
forms, each reporter also contains short summaries
of the decisions reached on legal issues (“holdingsll ) by
the Court. These summaries appear before the opinion(s)
in each case, and are commonly called “head notes.”

Decisions by the U.S.Circuit Courts of Appeal are collected
in the Federal Reporter(F.). Eecisions by the United States
District Courts are collected in the Federal Supplement
(F.Supp.). These reporter sets are organized in the same.
manner as the Supreme Court Reporter. All three sets are
distributed by the same publisher–West’s.

Secondary Sources – Case Digests
The West (Publishing Company) system is the be..;t known and
most widely-used of secondary source material. Their !lCase
Digestsll comprise numerous volumes which are arranged alphabetically
according to general subject area(e.g.: Constitutional
Law, Criminal Law, etc.). Each general area is broken
down into a number of more specific issues, each ,~ which
is assigned a “key number”. Under each key number, all
cases within the Case Digest’s jurisdiction which address
the issue are digested. A citation to the case itself is
given: so the appropriate reporter can be checked foi the
entire text: of the opinion. One of the head notes preceding
the opinion will bear the key number.

Since the reporters and case digests thus refer to one
ano’ther, a researcher may “enter the system”through either
source: through the index And then key numbers in the
case digest, or through a particular case in a reporter.
Case digests are linked to statutes annotated collections
in the same manner.

West’s publishes the Wisconsin Key Number Digest, the Northwestern
Reporter, and Wisconsin Statutes Annotated, which
are linked in the manner discussed above. West’s Modern
Federal Practice Digest is coupled in this manner with the
Supreme Court Reporter, Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement,
and United States Code Annotated.

Secondary Sources – Reporters
There are a number of commercially publish6d reporter sets
which are collections of case decisions, statutes and other
legal authority, regarding particular subject matter areas.
Examples are the Poverty Law Reporter, the Mental Disabili,ty
Law Reporter, the Criminal Law Reporter, and the Employment
Law Reporter. These reporters have their own systems of
citations, and are best entered through their own indexes.
(Remember not to confuse these reporters with the regular
case reporters: which select cases according to jurisdiction
or type of court rather than subject matter.)

Secondary Sources – Encyclopedias
Legal encyclopedias are multi-volume treatises or commentaries
on the law. There are two major encyclopedias, American
Jurisprudence Second (Am.Jur.2d) and Corpus Juris Secondum
(C.J.S.). They attempt to cover every area of the law.

Secondary Sources – Hornbooks
A Hornbook is a treatise or commentary on the law of a
given subject, usually contained in single volumes!e.g.:
Prosser on Torts! McCormick on Evidence.

Secondary Sources – Casebooks
A Case book is a law school textbook with is basically a
collection of court opinions relating to a particular area
of the law. Casebooks are primarily a collection of appellate
opinions. For the researcher: their primary value usually
lies in the introductions written by the authors to each
topic in the text.

Secondary Sources – Law Reviews and Index to Legal Periodicals
Law Reviews are treatises printed in periodical form as
pamphlets and bound volumes, usually by law schools. The
term LegaJ Periodical is usually used to refer to tre.atises
by other p’ublishers: e. g., the :various bar associations.

The Index to Legal Periodicals lists alphabetically most
writings in law reviews and legal periodicals according to
the author and subject.

Secondary Sources – Shepardts citations
Shepard’s Citations £s the most widely used legal citator.
A citator is a set of volumes which gives the history of
the law set forth in cases and statutes since their dates
of enactment or decision.

Shepard’s is arranged by case and statute citations–see
discussion below for examination of citation form. When
the case or statute citation if located in Shepard ‘s,
the researcher peruses the list of citations below the
citation to the case or statute he or she is researching.

These citations represent all cases which have specifically
cited the case of state being researched since it was
decided or enacted. Letters appear to the left of these
citations which indicate the treatment given the case or
statute beina researched bv the later decisions. In print, the user may check
the front of any Shepard”s bound volume for the meaning
of these letters. When using Shepard´s, the legal researcher
must be sure to refer to all the volumes containing the
citation to the case or statute being researched.