Basic Legal Research
Maryville University Library
Gail Keutzer
Legal Publishing
Primary Sources
Actual form of the law
Examples:• United States Code• Missouri Revised
Statutes• United States Reports
Secondary Sources
Lead to and/or explain primary sources
Examples:• Encyclopedias • Law Reviews• Annotated Codes
Legal Publishing
Main publishers:
Government (federal and state)
West (main private publishers)
Other (Lexis/Nexis, law schools, etc.)
Sources of Law
1. Constitution (supreme law)
2. Case Law (from courts)
3. Statutory Law (from legislature)
4. Regulatory Law (from agencies)
Case Law
Cases are published in Reporters
Examples:
1. US Reports (Supreme Court)
2. Federal Reporter (Appeals Courts)
3. Federal Supplement (District Courts)
4. Southwestern Reporter (State cases)
Case Law
Cases are arranged and referred to by citations
book date
Katz v. United States 389 US 347 1967 name of case volume page
Case Law
Parallel Citations: When the same case is reported in two different sources.
Harriman v. Louisiana
476 U.S. 1109 (U.S. Reports)
106 S. Ct. 1958 (Supreme Court Reporter)
90 L. Ed. 366 (Lawyer’s Edition)
Case Law
United States Reports
• Published by US Government
• Publishing cycle:
slip opinions=>preliminary prints=>final
Case Law
Southwestern Reporter
• Published by West
• Includes cases reported for geographic region
• Maryville has Missouri cases only
Case Law
West’s Key Number System
• Assigns numbers to topics of law
• Used throughout reporter and digest system for cross referencing
• Designated by a key symbol
Case Law
Ways to find cases
• Use citations (easiest)
• Use list of cases reported (in reporter)
• Use secondary sources– Digests (ex: West’s Missouri Digest)– Encyclopedias (ex: American Jurisprudence)– Other references (ex: treatises, law reviews,
annotations and footnotes)
Case Law
West’s Missouri Digest
• Indexes Missouri cases by topic
• Useful finding aids– Descriptive index volumes– Table of cases– Words and Phrases index– Pocket Parts– Supplementary pamphlet
Case Law
Encyclopedias
• Corpus Juris Secundum (an alphabetical arrangement of some four hundred broad legal topics)
• American Jurisprudence (includes state and federal laws arranged by broad topics)
Statutory Law
Laws are published in codes
Examples:
• United States Code
• Missouri Revised Statutes
• United States Code Annotated
Statutory Law
United States Code• Contains the laws of the United States
arranged in titles and sections• Publication cycle: slip laws=>
Statutes at Large=>final U.S. Code• Citation formats:
– 22 USC 7101 (Code)– 117 STAT. 2875 (Statutes at Large)– P.L. 108-193 (Slip law)
Statutory Law
United States Code Annotated
• West publication
• Arranged in titles and sections to correspond to United States Code
• Adds explanatory notes and references
Statutory Law
Missouri Statutory Sources
• Revised Missouri Statutes (official)
• Vernon’s Annotated Missouri Statutes (West)
• Missouri Session Laws (compiled each legislature)
Shepards
• Use to determine “good law”
• For given case or law, gives later cases or laws that have cited it
• Indicates how later references have treated the case (i.e. affirmed, dissented, etc.)