Legal research

The entries cover court systems, precedent, case reporting system (including regional and state reporters, headnotes and the West Key Number System, citations, and case finding), statutes, constitutions, and legislative history, and secondary sources (including treatises, law reviews, digests, and restatements). Also included in this topic is the examination of administrative agencies (including regulations, and looseleaf services), Shepard’s Citations, computers in legal research, reading and understanding a case (including briefing a case), using legal source books, basic guidelines for legal writing, organizing your research, writing a memorandum of law, writing a brief, and writing an opinion or client letter.

Reports

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Reports in the United States Reports and the State Laws Select from the list of U.S. States below for state-specific information on Reports: Reports in the Subject Index of the Alabama Portal Reports in the Subject Index of the Alaska Portal Reports in the Subject Index of the Arizona Portal […]

Regulation

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Regulation in United States Plain-English Law Regulation as defined by Nolo’s Encyclopedia of Everyday Law (p. 437-455):

A law issued by a state or federal administrative agency for the purpose of implementing and enforcing a statute

Citation Notes State codes of regulation are often […]

Finders

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Finders (Finds) This section introduces, discusses and describes the basics of finders. Then, cross references and a brief overview about Finds is provided. Finally, the subject of Admiralty Law in relation with finders is examined. Note that a list of cross references, bibliography and other […]

Texas

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Texas in the United States Legal Materials The Texas Legislature Online posts the Texas Constitution, statutory code, bills, etc. The Secretary of State posts the Texas Administrative Code. The current Administrative Code is searchable on Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law. Historical […]

Authority

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Authority in the United States Authority Definition Power. In Contracts. The power lawfully delegated to a person by another. Authority coupled with an interest is an authority given to an agent for a valuable consideration, or which forms part of a security. Express authority is that […]

Administrative Law

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Administrative Law in the United States The body of law that concerns the powers of and procedures to be used by administrative agencies. Administrative Law (Judicial Function) also includes the law that creates such agencies and the provisions that define the extent to which agency decisions […]

Stare Decisis

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Stare Decisis in the United States Latin for "let the decision stand." Stare Decisis (Judicial Function) holds that once a principle of law is established for a particular legal situation, courts should adhere to that principle in similar cases in the future. The case in which the […]

Colorado

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Colorado in the United States Colorado Legal Materials Internet links to government agencies, statutes, regulations, cases, etc. are posted by FindLaw. Supreme and appellate court cases are published in the Pacific Reporter. Primary legal materials are also available from Lexis, […]

Florida

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Florida in the United States Florida Legal Materials The Florida Constitution, statutes, bills and other legislative materials are posted on the the Florida Legislature's Online Sunshine site. For House bills, bill status and related Documents, use the Florida Senate and Florida House of […]

News

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News in the United States United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.) in the Context of Law Research The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Library defined briefly United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.) as: A West Group publication in […]

Bail

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Bail in United States Bail Definition (Fr. bailler, to deliver). Those persons who become sureties for the appearance of the defendant in court. The delivery of the defendant to persons who, in the manner prescribed by law, become security for his appearance in court. The word is used both as […]

Law Reviews

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Law Reviews in the United States Scholarly publications sponsored by law schools. Law reviews serve as outlets for legal articles by teachers, practitioners, and judges. Editorial work and some writing are done by the best students from the sponsoring school. See citation (in U.S. law) (to […]

Annotation

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Annotation in United States Annotation Definition In civil law: (1) The answers of the prince to questions put to him by private persons respecting some doubtful point of law. See "Rescript." (2) Summoning an absentee. Dig. 1. 5. (3) The designation of a place of deportation. Dig. […]

Federal Register

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Federal Register in the United States Introduction to Federal Register Federal Register, published log of rules and regulations issued by the United States government before they go into effect. The Federal Register also prints information on the activities of every U.S. government […]

American Jurisprudence

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American Jurisprudence in United States Practical Information Note: Some of this information was last updated in 1982

A legal encyclopedia that gives comprehensive textual statements of American case law. Am. Jur., as American Jurisprudence is commonly called, makes no attempt to cite every […]

Looseleafs

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Looseleafs in the United States To find out what looseleafs exist in a subject area, look in Legal Looseleafs in Print. The book is available in print and searchable in the LawTRIO database (www.infosourcespub.com/index.cfm). Note: Many looseleaf searvices are now available on Lexis, […]

District Courts

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District Courts in the United States Federal Courts: District Courts Congress has divided the United States into 94 federal districts and authorized about 650 judges to serve in the courts of those districts. Each district is contained within a state and no district overlaps state […]

Cities

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Cities in the United States Introduction According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, "Cities, unlike states, are not mentioned in the Constitution. Many other important collective institutions in our society, such as corporations, are not mentioned in the Constitution […]

Venue

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Venue in the United States The geographical area or district in which a court may hear a case. Venue refers to the location of a trial. Venue differs from jurisdiction in that the latter defines the authority of a court to hear a matter while the former defines only the place that judicial […]

Hornbooks

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Hornbooks in the United States Hornbooks are usually single volume legal books that are written by law professors for law students. Hornbooks summarize and explain a particular area of the law, discuss major cases, and present "black letter law." Hornbooks examples […]

Legal Dictionaries

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A legal dictionary defines terms relevant to law. While there are several dictionaries to choose from, Black's Law Dictionary and Ballentine's Legal Dictionary and Thesaurus (see more about this legal research tool in this American legal Encyclopedia) are the two most popular. These are […]

Pleadings

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Pleadings in the United States Formal statements of claims and responses by parties to a legal action. The Pleadings become the basis of the questions taken to trial. The civil process commences with the filing of a complaint by the plaintiff. The complaint is answered by the defendant. […]

Executive Order

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Executive Order in the United States Executive Order in Environmental Law A directive issued by the president to executive agencies and published in the Federal Register after it is signed. Executive orders reflect the philosophy of the president toward agency structure and the regulatory […]

Statute

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Statute in the United States Law enacted by the legislative branch of government. Statutes are enacted by legislatures under power authorized and means prescribed by federal and state constitutions. Resolutions adopted by legislative bodies are not considered statutes. Law adopted by […]

Oregon

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Oregon in the United States Legal Materials Legal Internet links to Oregon statutes, regulations, cases, etc. are posted by FindLaw and the Georgetown Law Library. Primary legal materials are also available from Lexis,Westlaw and LOIS. Google Scholar has free cases back to […]

Practitioner Materials

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These are treatises and form books which provide a basic explanation of an area of law–often with step by step approaches and advice for handling a case along with recommended forms. They provide references to the basic authority such as leading cases or essential statutes. They tend not to […]

Online Sources

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Westlaw and LexisNexis are the two principal online sources for legal information. A developing new source is Loislaw which provides access to federal and state primary and secondary law sources. In addition, the Internet is increasingly becoming a resource for legal research, although one must […]

Dispositive Questions

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Many legal research assignments present multiple questions: Do the actions involved constitute a harm to A for which he can recover? Can B be held liable? What are the damages? Has the statute of limitations run such that it is too late to commence an action? Answer one question at a time to […]

State Law

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State Law in the United States The power of state law has historically included governing the following kinds of issues and claims: Contracts, including sales, commercial paper, letters of credit, and secured transactions Torts Property, including real property, bailments of personal […]

Constitution

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Constitution in the United States Constitution Definition in the Legislative Process The following is a definition of Constitution, by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): A written instrument embodying the fundamental principles of the state that guarantees powers and […]

American Law Reports

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American Law Reports (ALR) in the United States Introduction Annotated opinions of appellate courts (see apellate court (in U.S. law) ) in all jurisdictions. ALR (in U.S. law) contains a minimum of U.S. Supreme Court cases; they are taken care of by the annotations in the Lawyer's Edition. […]

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