Presentation 22

7/17/2019 Presentation 22

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Research Materials In The UnitedStates

Many of our laws, particularly politicaland commercial law, originated from theAmerican legal system.

One consults laws and decisions of theUnited States only if our laws were

copied from them and its principles of lawwere adopted in the Philippines.

Example: The concept of due process oflaw found in Our Constitution was



Common Law vs Civil Law Systems

Common law

s !enerally uncodied . This means thatthere is no comprehensive compilationof legal rules and statutes. "hilecommon law does rely on some scatteredstatutes, which are le!islati#e decisions, itis lar!ely ased on precedent, meanin!

the $udicial decisions that ha#e already%een made in similar cases. Theseprecedents are maintained o#er timethrou!h the records of the courts as well

as historically documented in collections



Civil Law,

in contrast, is codied . Countries with ci#il law systemsha#e comprehensi#e, continuously updated le!al codesthat specify all matters capa%le of %ein! %rou!ht %efore a

court, the applica%le procedure, and the appropriatepunishment for each o(ense. Such codes distin!uish%etween di(erent cate!ories of law: su%stanti#e lawesta%lishes which acts are su%$ect to criminal or ci#il

prosecution, procedural law esta%lishes how to determinewhether a particular action constitutes a criminal act, andpenal law esta%lishes the appropriate penalty. n a ci#illaw system, the !udge"s role is to estalish the factsof the case and to apply the provisions of the

applicale code



A. Case Law

#ederal Court $ecisions

Supreme Court

US )ederal Supreme Court decisions are o*ciallypu%lished in the US Report and its alternati#e texts in

the Supreme Court Reporter pu%lished commercially%y %est &ulishing Company

US Supreme Court Reports'Lawyer"s (d. Pu%lished%y Le)is &ulishing Company.

US Law %ee*+USL%, a looseleaf ser#ice pu%lished %ythe -ureau of ational A/airs' prints important currentdecisions of the US )ederal Supreme Court and di!ests of

decisions of the federal appellate and district courts, and



Court of Appeals and $istrict Court$ecisions

The intermediate appellate courts are the USCourt of Appeals di#ided into 01 circuits

n the federal court system, the !eneral trialcourts are &nown as US $istrict Courts in 23districts.

These courts ha#e no o*cial reports , except forslip decisions.

The decisions of these courts are pu%lisheduno*ciall % %est &ulishin in The #ederal



Special #ederal Courts

There are se#eral specialied trial courts such as

the -an*ruptcy Courts, The Court of #ederalClaims and The Court of International Trade.

-an*ruptcy Courts)ederal courts ha#e exclusi#e $urisdiction o#er%an&ruptcy cases in#ol#in! personal, %usiness, orfarm %an&ruptcy. This means a %an&ruptcy case

cannot %e -led in state court. Throu!h the%an&ruptcy process, indi#iduals or %usinessesthat can no lon!er pay their creditors may eithersee& a courtsuper#ised li/uidation of their

assets, or they may reor!anie their -nancial



These courts ha#e no o*cial reports , except forslip decisions.

The decisions of these courts are pu%lisheduno*cially %y %est &ulishing in The #ederalReports , #ederal Supplements and #ederalRules $ecisions which contain a limited num%erof US +istrict Court decisions.



$ecision of State Courts

+ecisions of the State Courts are pu%lished

in two forms:

0. as ocial reports , issued %y the

courts as authoritati#e texts of theirdecisions and and as

1. unocial reports issued %ycommercial pu%lishers



%(ST LA% and L(4IS

are the leadin! online system in le!al

research.

%est law

http566international.westlaw.com

Le)is http566www.le)is.com6

They2re a#aila%le on su%scription %asis.3oth pro#ide access to a wide ran!e ofdocuments includin! full text of opinionsfrom federal and state courts as well as



The ma$or comprehensi#e uno*cialreportin! system is the %est&ulishing Company7s ationalReporter System and the onlinesystems of Le)is and %estLaw.

The 4ational 5eporter System includes

a series of re!ional reporters pu%lishin!the decisions of appellate courts of the67 states and the +istrict of Colum%ia.



This system di#ides the United States

into se#en re!ions and pu%lishes thedecisions of the appellate courts of thestates in each re!ion to!ether in one

series of #olumes



#ederal Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America isthe supreme law of the United States. Empowered withthe so#erei!n authority of the people %y the framers andthe consent of the le!islatures of the states, it is the

source of all !o#ernment powers, and also pro#idesimportant limitations on the !o#ernment that protect thefundamental ri!hts of United States citiens.

The text of the US Constitution is found in se#eralpu%lications, from pamphlets to annotated texts, fromconstitutional treaties to horn%oo&s as appendices. t isalso found in the %e!innin! #olumes of the US Code+USC8, the US Code Annotated +USCA8 and the US

Code Service +USCS,.



The United States Code +USC, is a consolidation and

codi-cation %y su%$ect matter ofthe general and permanent laws of the United States. t isprepared %y the O*ce of the 9aw 5e#ision Counsel of the UnitedStates ouse of 5epresentati#es.;fter the U.S. Con!ress passes a %ill and the president si!ns it intolaw, it is typically codi-ed, i.e., placed into the United States Code

+USC8, the o8cial version of federal statutory law. The USCincludes 67 su%$ect titles, which are su%di#ided into chapters andsections. The USC contains the codi-ed le!islation, as well as suchelements as authority references, historical notes, enactment dates,crossreferences, ta%les, and an index.

Since 0<1=, "est has pu%lished an annotated #ersion of the USC, theUnited States Code Annotated >USC;8. ;nnotations are summariesof pu%lished court decisions that ha#e interpreted the section. n theUSC;, the annotations follow the text of the section. The USC; and itsindexes are updated more fre/uently than the USC?poc&et partinserts and interim pamphlets are issued throu!hout the year.



Constitution of The US Annotated

One of the most extensi#e and authoritati#e #olume is theConstitution of the United States of America,Analysis and Interpretation, edited %y 9ohnny :.

;illian and pu%lished %y the Congressional ResearchService. contains le!al analysis and interpretation of theUnited States Constitution, %ased primarily on SupremeCourt case law.

https:@@www.con!ress.!o#@constitutionannotated@



There are two commerciallypu%lished, uno8cial codes:

the United States Code Service >USCS8 from

9exisA and

the United States Code Annotated >USC;8from "est.

Unli&e the o*cial USC or free, uno*cial #ersionsof the USC online, the USCS and USC;are annotated, they pro#ide references toprimary and secondary sources and cross



US SU&R(M( C<URT $I=(ST

U.S. Supreme Court $igest' Lawyers7 (ditionpu%lished %y 9exis, or!anies the case lawalpha%etically with headnotes arran!ed under moderntitles of law. t also includes a Ta%le of Cases, which listsalpha%etically all decisions, specifyin! +i!est sections

where headnotes are located.

United States Supreme Court Digest pulished y%est &ulishing

$igest of United States Supreme Court Reports>9exis4exis8 and United States Supreme Court$igest >"est8, pro#ide ways of locatin! cases %y name

or %y su%$ect.



http:@@uscode.house.!o#@http:@@www.loc.!o#@law@[email protected]

https:@@lscontent.westlaw.com@ima!es@content@)indStatutes07.pdf

https:@@www.whitehouse.!o#@077@constitution

https:@@www.con!ress.!o#@constitutionannotated@

Constitution of The US ;nnotated

The 9aw 9i%rary: 5e#isitin! Traditional 9e!al 5esearch Method

https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/constitution





American Law Reports +ALR, pu%lished%y the 9awyers Cooperati#e Pu%lishin!

Company, contain the complete text ofselected court opinions with extensi#ecommentaries or annotations.

Documents

Presentation 22