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42 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Nature of Legal Authority
Primary: authorized statements of the law by governmental institutions (cases, consts, legislation)
Secondary: statements of the law used to explain primary authority (treatises, law rev arts, journals)
Mandatory: the authority must be followed by the court (US Const on fed crts, state on state)
Persuasive: the crt has the discretion to follow the authority or not
Six elements of a citation
Name, volume of reporter, reporter, page # in reporter, crt, date
Official Syllabi v. West Headnotes
Off Syll: Summarize a pt of law in an official report and are prepared by the official reporter’s editors
West Hdnotes:
Parts of a case
1.Name or title, 2.citation(incl parallel often), 3.docket #, 4.date of decision, 5.prefatory statement(nature and disposition), 6.syllabus or headnote(summary of pts of law), 7.names of counsel, 8.statement of facts, 9.opinions of the crt, 10.decision with judgement or decree
Federal Court System
Authority from Art. III of US Const.
3 main divisions: Supreme crt, crts of appeals(12 circuits), district crts(since 1880)
Availability of fed crt opinions
Supr crt: all written decisions in both official and unofficial reports, most of its per curiam also
Crts of appeals: all written decisions designated for publication appear in unofficial reports
District crts: only selected cases are reported unofficially, unreported available generally from crt clerks
Supreme Crt Opinions Availability
Bound Reporters
1. US Reports: official
2. West’s Supr Crt Reporter
3. US Supr Crt Reports, Lawyer’s Ed
Looseleaf reporters
4. US Law Week
Electronic
5. WESTLAW
6. LEXIS-NEXIS
7. Internet, various sources
Lower Fed Crt Reports
No exclusive official reporter for appls crts or dist crts
1. Federal Cases: dist crt and cir crt of appls decisions from 1789 to 1879
2. Federal Reporter: US crts of appls and dist crts (until 1932), other abolished crts, only cases ordered to be publ
3. Federal Supplement: US Dist crts from 1932, only cases ordered by judge
4. Federal Rules Decisions: cases construing FRCP and RCP
5. Military Justice Reporter: US crt of military appls and Crts of military review of branches
6. Bankruptcy Reporter: US Bankruptcy crts and bankruptcy cases fr/US Dist crts
7. Federal Claims Reporter: US Claims Crt
8. West’s Veterans Appeals Reporter: US CRT of Vet Appls
9. West’s Federal Case News: summary of recent federal cases
Special Federal Court Reporters
1. Cases Decided in the US Court of Claims
2. US Court of Int’l Trade Reports
3. Reports of the US Tax Court
4. Cases Decided in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
National Reporter System Divisions
• Began in 1879, largest and most comprehensive collection of state and federal crt cases
1. Cases of state crts
2. Cases of federal crts
3. Cases of special crts
Nat’l Rep Sys: State Crt Coverage
States are grouped into regions: NW Reporter, Pacific, North Eastern, Atlantic, SW, Southern, SE
• Referred to as Regional Reporters
• NY and Cal have their own reporters
• Reports the state’s highest and intermediate crt decisions
• West also publishes “offprints” for individual states
Arkansas
• W/I the SW region
• Ark publishes an official Arkansas Reports and Ark Crt of Appls Reporter
Federal Court and Special Court Coverge
West’s SC Rep, Fed Rep, Fed Supp, and Fed Rules Dec
Nat’l Reporter System Features
• Full text of cases
• West Headnotes: topics of case Key Numbered to West’s Am Digest System
• Synopsis of case
• Tables of: Cases, Statutes, Words and Phrases
Parallel Citing
• To give the official reporter citation 1st, then Nat’l Rep cite
• Allows reader to find case in either official reporter or west reporter
Cross-Reference Tables
State Court Citations
1. Official cite to Nat’l Rep cite
a. Nat’l Reporter Blue Book
b. Shepard’s Citations for the state
c. Table of Cases in the state or regional digest
2. Nat’l Rep cite to official cite
a. State Blue and White Book
b. Shepard’s Citations
c. Table of Cases in state or reg digest or Am Digest system
d. Star pagination in Nat’l Rep Sys
Federal Crt Citations
1. Shepard’s US Citations: Cases volumes
2. Table of Cases in one of the federal digests
Insta-cite and Auto-cite
Digests to Cases
• Compilations of legal topics
Crts of a single state, one crt, a system of crts, crts of neighboring states, fed cases, subject
American Digest System
• A master index to all of the case law in the US, began 1897
• Contains headnotes w/their corresponding Topics and Key #’s from every unit of Nat’l Rep Sys
• General Digest: all headnotes taken from all units of NRS for period covered(usually once a mo)
• Decennial Digest: a compilation of the Topics for the General Digests(every 10 yrs), 1st:1897-1906
• Currently in 10th decennial, also a Century Digest for 1658-1896
• Table of Key #’s: published in every 10th vol of Gen Digest, shows which volumes contain a particular key number
Finding Topics and Key #’s
1. Descriptive word method: uses the Descr word index(ea Dec unit & Gen Dig), which is arranged alphabetically to the subjects of the digests. Take fact situation and look for relevant word or phrse in the index to obtain Topc and Key #
2. Analysis or Topic Method: Choose a West Topic that covers case and read outline of Topic and Key #’s under the topic, and ID the most relevant Key #’s to use
3. Table of Cases Method: Ea. Dec unit and Gen Dig has a T of C by Plaint. If a relevant case is known, find the case in Table and the Table gives Topics and Key #’s covered in case
4. Alternative Method: If know a case, find case in NRS and look at Topics and Key #’s
Common Features of West’s Key # Digests
1. Descriptive-Word Index
2. Table of Cases volume
3. Words and Phrases volume
4. Defendant-Plaintiff volume (not in regional digests)
5. Constant updating
State Digests
• West publishes a Key # Digest for nearly every state, for reported appellate cases and fed crt cases
Regional Digests
• 4 sets are currently published, corresponding to 4 regions in NRS
• Atlantic, NW, Pacific, SE
Federal Court Cases Digests
1. West’s Federal Practice Digest, 4th: digest of all federal crt cases since Dec of 1975
• Arranged chronologically by auth of crt, disposition given of case
• Federal Digest for cases prior to 1939, after WFPD 1,2,3,4
2. US Supreme Court Digest: dig sys for US supr crt only
Specialized West Digests
1. West’s Bankruptcy Digest
2. West’s Military Justice Digest
3. US Federal Claims Digest
4. West’s Education Law Digest
5. US Merit Systems Protection Board Digest
Shepard’s Citations
• Used to determine validity of authority by checking which subsequent cases have cited the case
1. History of case: refers to what has happened to the actual case over time
2. Treatment of the Case: refers to how subsequent cases have evaluated the case
• Followed, criticized, distinguished
State Shepard’s Citations
in connection with the state reports
• Keys each citing case to the headnotes of the cited case
• Lists citing:
1. state crts
2. fed crts in state
3. legal periodicals in state + 20 nat’l legal journals
4. AG opinions
• State Case Name Citators: provides both P-D and D-P listings for ea case decided w/I the state
Regional Shepard’s Citations
• Provides history and treatment based on the West citation
• Covers cases from entire Nat’l Reporter System
Significance of Shepard’s
• Quick history and treatment of a case or pt of law
• Saves time and effort in establishing validity of case
Federal Constitution
• Drafted in1787
1. Judicial Interpretations
a. United States Code Annotated
b. United States Code Service
c. The Constitution of the United States of America
d. Digests of federal crt cases
State Constitutions
• Most commonly found in Constitutions vol of the state code
• Want access so that other state’s laws can be interpreted and applied to situation
Federal Legislative Process
General
• Art I sec 8 gives Congress its power
• House and Senate meet in 2yr periods and each yr is a session
From Bill to Law
1. Congressmen introduce Bills or Joint Resolutions(H.R. or S.)
2. After Bill passes chamber whr introduced, goes to other chamber
3. If other chamber passes Bill in identical form, Bill goes to Pres.
4. Pres. Can sign Bill, veto Bill, or allow to become law by not signing after 10 days
5. Bills introduced but not passed do not carry over to next congress
6. After Bill become law, sent to Archivist who publishes the law
7. Archivist classifies law as either Public or Private
US Statutes at Large
• At end of ea session of Cong, both Public and Private laws are publ in numerical order in S at L
• US S at L is the authoritative text of federal laws
• Laws appear in chronological order, so amendments may be in other vols
• Has a subject index and Popular Name index
Codification of Federal Law
• A process that rearranges the laws of congress to: (1) connect the original law w/all amendments, (2) bring all law on the same subject or topic together, (3) eliminate all repealed, supersed, or expired laws
• 1st codification was Revised Statutes of the US in 1875
United States Code (U.S.C.)
• Official codification of federal law
• 1st prepared in 1926: Revised Stat of 1875 + S at L thereafter
• Arranged law into 50 titles
• New ed every 6 yrs
• U.S.C. was never submitted to Cong for enactment into positive law
• Titles are submitted independently for approval into positive law
• Titles not enacted are Prima Facie evidence of the law, S at L govern
• Muti-vol general index, cross-references, Acts Cited by Popular Name, various tables
Annotated eds of USC
1. USCA
• Popular Name Table for Acts of Congress in last vol of Gen Index
2. U.S.C.S.
• Table of Acts by Popular Name in Tables vol.
Federal Public and Private Laws
Public Law: affects the nation as a whole or deals with public matters
Private Laws: deal with a specific individual or individuals
Public Laws in Force
1. Index method: look in gen index of a set of the code
2. Topic Method: obtain vols covering Title interested in
3. Definition Method: look at Definitions in gen index
Public Laws not in Force
• Index Analysis of the Federal Statutes or Index to the Federal Statutes
Private Laws
• 1.US Satutes at Large
Legislative History Process
• to obtain information on the intent or purpose of a law
• to obtain definitions of words and/or meanings
• to examine the history of the law and its amendments
Documents Relevant to Leg History
1. Congressional Bills
2. Committee Reports
3. Committee Hearings
4. Congressional Debates
State Legislation
• Codification is either positive law or prima facie
• Positive Law: law actually enacted by the legislature
• Prima Facie: compilation of law not enacted by legislature, proof of the law
Arkansas Code Annotated
• Authorized in 1987
• Arranged into titles
• Has a general index w/ Table of Acts by Popular Name
• Passed into law, but any difference is resolved in favor of original language
Administrative Law
• Promulgated by Agencies, arms of the executive branch
Actions of Administrative Agencies
1. Rules or regulations: statements of agency interpreting or prescribing law or policy
2. Orders: used to describe the final disposition of an agency matter
3. Licenses: permits, certificates issued by the agency
4. Advisory Opinions: authoritative interpretations of statues and regulations, not binding
5. Decisions: result of adjudications performed by agencies authorized by law to hear controversies arising from violation of statute, rules, or regulations
Federal Register
• Created by Congress in 1935
• Any administrative rule or regulation w/general applicability must be published in Federal Register
• Designed to let people know what the rules and regulations are
• Published daily
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
• A codification of all rules and regulations published in the Federal Register
• Prima facie evidence of the text of rules
• Arranged into 50 titles
• Supplemented and replaced yearly
Proposed Rules
• Appear in the Federal Register
• Purpose is to give interested persons the opportunity to participate in the the rulemaking process prior to final adoption of the rule