REVIEW CASE LAW _ STATUTORY LAW

							REVIEW CASE LAW
&
STATUTORY LAW
CASE LAW
 Common law
 Constitutional law
 Statutory interpretation
Common Law
 Court of Original jurisdiction: U.S. District
  Court
 Law created by courts in the absence of enacted law
  (The Legal Writing Handbook 2nd ed. p. 25)
 Mandatory vs. persuasive authority
              1. Which jurisdiction applies?
              2. What law will be binding on
       the court?
 Doctrines of stare decisis and precedent
FEDERAL COURTS
 United States Courts of Appeals and
 United States Court of Appeals for the
 Federal Circuit
 United States Supreme Court
STATE COURTS
 Superior Court

 Intermediate Appellate Courts
 37 states
 State Supreme Court
LOOKING AT COURT
SYSTEMS
 They are hierarchical
   Trial Courts
   Intermediate Courts of Appeal
   Supreme Court
                ORGANIZATIONAL
                   SCHEMES

 Form                         Jurisdiction
        Slip opinion                 Supreme Court
        Advance sheet                Courts of Appeal
        Bound volume


Geographical               Subject
      State                      Public utilities
      Federal                    Communications law
      Regional Reporters         Evidence
                                 Administrative
OFFICIAL & UNOFFICIAL
OPINIONS
 • OFFICIAL “set of reports sanctioned by statute
    • Private publisher can have a contract to publish official reports
    • Remember to check local court rules before using unpublished
      cases as authority
 • WHO ARE THE PUBLISHERS?
    • Official Publications
    • Unofficial Publications
    • Drawbacks of Official Publications
        • Timeliness
        • No annotations
        • Minimal Indexing
What gets reported and where?

 Appellate Courts (High &
  Intermediate)
   – Printed Reporters: Opinions, Orders
   – Databases: Westlaw, Lexis, LoisLaw
   – Court Web Sites: Opinions, Orders
 Trial Courts
  – Court Clerk’s case files: Petitions, Answers,
    Subpoenas, Motion, Orders, Briefs, Discovery
    materials, verdict forms, jury instructions,
    notices, exhibits, etc
Types of West Case Reporters

 Jurisdictional
   – Federal (e.g. Supreme Court Reporter)
   – State-based (e.g. Missouri Cases)
 Regional
   – 7 Geographic Regions
   – Unique to West
 Topical
   – E.g. Bankruptcy Reporter
   – E.g. Federal Rules Decision
     West’s Regional Reporter System



 State Appellate
  Case Law
  ONLY
 7 Regions
 Each Region has
  Reporter
 Most Reporters
  in 2nd or 3rd
  series
Finding a Case: Digests
 What is a Digest?
  – Index into published cases (Reporters)
  – Summaries of cases
  – Organized alphabetically by topic
  – Outline
Features of all West Digests

 Topic-based Organization
 Scope Note describing Topic
 Analysis and Topic Outline
 Table of Cases
 Descriptive Word Index
 Defendant-Plaintiff Table
 Supplementation for Currency
 Words & Phrases
How do I find a Case on my issue
using a West Digest?
 Descriptive Word Index
  – Identify key legal or factual terms
 Analysis or Topic Review
  – Identify areas of law involved, review list of
    West topics and choose appropriate subtopics
    therein
 One good case method
  – Locate case in Table of Cases or
    Plaintiff/Defendant Table
  – Determine matching Topic/Key Number
West’s Outline of American Law

 400 General Topics organized under Seven
 Categories
  –   Persons
  –   Property
  –   Contracts
  –   Torts
  –   Crimes
  –   Remedies
  –   Government
   Key Number System: Updating

               Digest Main Volume




  Digest                                           Digest
Pocket Parts                                 Interim Pamphlets


               Digest Sections in Reporter
                    Advance Sheets
Key Number System : Updating


                 Digests are updated
                 annually by pocket parts.

                 Pocket parts contain case
                 headnotes more current than
                 those in the digest main
                 volume.
Key Number System : Updating

               Digests are brought further
               up-to-date by
               supplementary interim
               pamphlets, published
               between annual pocket
               parts.

               Interim pamphlets contain
               headnotes more current than
               those in the main volume or
               pocket part.
Key Number System : Updating
                  For headnotes from the
                  most recent cases, check the
                  advance sheets issued after
                  the close of the last interim
                  pamphlet.

                  Each case reporter advance
                  sheet has a section entitled
                  “Key Number Digest,”
                  which contains the
                  headnotes from each case
                  included in the advance
                  sheet, arranged by topic and
                  key number.
Which Digest to Use?
 Federal Digest
 Regional Digests
  – No current NE, S, or SW
 State Digests
   – No UT, NV, DE
 Check Time Period – Digests are not
  cumulative
 Subject Digests (e.g., Bankruptcy)
SUMMARY
 Digests correspond to reporters – sort of.
 If you are in the federal digest, it will send you to
  one of the federal reporters
 If you are in a regional digest, you will see
  citations to cases in regional reporters (as well as
  the parallel cites to the state reporters).
 If you are in a state digest, you will see citations to
  cases in the state reporters, federal reporter (for
  federal cases re that state) and parallel cites to the
  regional reporter.
 Decennial digests will have cases from all
  reporters
FEDERAL STATUTES
Introduction
 Constitution authorizes Congress to make
  all laws necessary and proper for carrying
  into execution the enumerated powers, as
  well as all other powers vested in Congress

 The legislature
  – codifies a common law rule
  – enacts a new rule or standard
FEDERAL STAUTES
PUBLICATION

     SLIP LAWS
    SESSION LAWS
    CODIFICATION
SLIP LAWS
 OFFICIAL: Form P.L. 106-43
 U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News
  – Advance Sheets
  – In bound set the text of the Public Laws comes first
 United States Code Service & United States Code
  Annotated
   – Advance Sheets
 On-line versions
  – LEXIS & WESTLAW
  – http://thomas.loc.gov
SESSION LAWS
 STATUTES AT LARGE
   – Hardbound chronologically arranged
   – Consecutively paged Trademark Amendments Act of
     1999 is cited as 113 Stat. 218
 CONTENTS
   – Public and Private Laws
   – Interstate Compacts
 RESEARCH AIDS
   – Public Law Number & Bill Number; USC citation
   – Text & Brief Legislative History
CODIFICATION-UNITED STATES
CODE

 HISTORY
   – First codification: Revised Statutes of 1875
   – First U.S. Code: United States Code 1926
   – Current: United States Code 2000 Edition
 To date less than one half of Titles have been
  enacted into positive law
   – As a result; those titles not yet enacted are prima facie
     evidence of the law
 If there is a conflict between wording in USC and
  Statutes at Large, the latter will govern
CODIFICATION-UNITED STATES
CODE II
 FEATURES
   – Multi-volume index
   – Popular Name listing
   – Tables volume
   – Historical notes
 DRAWBACKS
   – Slow publication cycle
   – No annotations
   – Poor indexing
   – Cumbersome updating scheme
UNITED STATES CODE ANNOTATED
West Group

 Follows text as it appears in United States Code
 Enhancements
  – Annotations
      • Generally many more than USCS
      • More detailed classification system than USCS
   – Multi-volume general index
   – Supplements to include recently enacted legislation
      • Monthly when Congress is in session
   – Yearly pocket-parts
   – Popular name table & other tables
UNITED STATES CODE SERVICE
Lexis Law Publishing

 Follows text as it appears in Statutes at Large
 Enhancements
   – Annotations
        • Includes some decisions from administrative agencies
   –   Analytical index & General Index
   –   Monthly Supplements
   –   Annual pocket-parts
   –   Popular name table
ON-LINE SOURCES

 WESTLAW
  – Full text of USCA; including annotations
 LEXIS
  – Full text of USCS; including annotations
 OTHER INTERNET SOURCES
  – There are a large number of access points
      • http://uscode.house.gov/
      • http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
STATE CODES

 Organizational Scheme
  – Slip laws
  – Bound session laws
  – Compiled laws (some states have official compilation;
    Mo. Rev. Stat.
  – Annotated version by private publisher
 Enhancements
  – Annotations
  – Updates with annual pocket-parts & a session law
    service when legislature is in session
STATE CODES II


 WESTLAW & LEXIS
  – Comprehensive coverage; WESTLAW a huge
    advantage with its annotations
 INTERNET
   – Using Findlaw.com
     • Listing for Missouri get URL
       http://www.moga.state.mo.us/homestat.asp