A version of a code (a subject compilation of laws) which in addition to the language of the law, also contains references to law review articles, other relevant regulations or statutes, and, most importantly, summaries of cases which discuss or interpret the particular code section. The annotations are provided by the editors and are not a part of the official language of the code. United States Code Annotated, published by West, is an annotated version of the official United States Code published by the federal government.
The vocabulary that law professor's use and the language used in the cases that you will be studying this fall is probably not like anything that you have experienced before. Please do not be concerned, you will pick it up quickly but feel free to review our suggested key terms as well as to use the two online dictionaries provided by Westlaw and Lexis - Black's Law Dictionary and Ballentine's Law Dictionary linked below once you receive your registration packet with all of the database vendor passwords.
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is published by the Harvard Law Review and other leading law reviews and sets forth abbreviations and rules of citation for legal materials. Although it is the accepted standard in law school writing; it is not necessarily used by courts or attorneys who may be required to follow local rules.
This is one of those terms with several meanings. Technically, a case is a dispute between two or more parties. "Case" also refers to the opinion of a court and its ruling on a particular set of facts and legal issues. Thus your casebook for a class is a collection of opinions. “Case”; “Judgment”; “Ruling”, Opinion”, and “Decision” are terms that are often used interchangeably.
The reference which helps you identify a particular case, law review article, book, statute or other resource, whether primary or secondary. For example, the citation for Roe v. Wade is “410 US 959 (1973)”. This means that the case appears in volume 410 of the official United States Reports beginning at page 959.The opinion was rendered in 1973. “42 USC §1983” is the citation for federal civil rights legislation which appears in title 42 of the United States Code at section 1983. See infra, “Parallel Citation”. The Bluebook will provide you with the rules on proper citation format.
A systematic subject compilation of laws which may be statutory or regulatory. Statutes and regulations are initially published chronologically, as they are enacted. The code pulls together all the statutes or regulations on a particular subject such as the California Penal Code or Title 26 of the United States Code which is on taxation. Without codification, you would have to look through multiple volumes, published over many years to find all the federal tax laws. Note that when people ask "What does the code say", they are generally referring to a statutory code.
A judge's disagreement with the majority of the court. Appellate court cases are heard by a panel of judges which can vary in number depending on the jurisdiction. A judge who disagrees with the majority ruling and opinion will often write a dissenting opinion explaining his or her reasons for disagreement.
Editors of published case reports include with the opinions a series of one paragraph summaries of the major issues (as seen by the editors) at the beginning of cases. These headnotes are not written by the judges and are not part of the opinion. In the Thomson/ West publications, headnotes include a topic and key number and contain the same language as the digest summary of the case. The West digest system provides a rearrangement of these headnotes by subject.
Hornbooks set forth the basic established principles of law for a given field and often explain how the law has developed. Although they do not provide the critical analysis of cutting edge issues found in other scholarly treatises or law review articles; they do provide more information than would be found in a legal encyclopedia. They are good starting points for research and the hornbooks on first-year subjects are often heavily used by students.
In the West digest system, just over 400 legal topics (which Thomson/West believes all legal issues can be classified into) are in turn subdivided into more than 100,000 points of law. Each topic is outlined with the sub-topics numbered. These numbers are referred to as key numbers. Other digest systems number the sub-topics as well, but the "key number" phrase is a copyright of Thomson/West.
West Group, a subsidiary of Thomson/West and a major publisher of legal materials, has a series of paperback volumes on basic legal research subjects that are often used by students in their studies and research. These are referred to as the Nutshell series. Sample titles are Legal Research in a Nutshell and Contracts in a Nutshell.
Many documents such as cases and statutes are printed by more than one publisher. The opinions of the United States Supreme Court appear in print format in United States Reports (the official reporter), the United States Supreme Court Reporter (an unofficial reporter), and Lawyers Edition (another unofficial reporter). The text of the opinion will be the same in each of these printed formats although there may be different editorial notes. The citation for a case will be different in each reporter due to how the editors arrange the cases. For example, as noted earlier, Roe v. Wade can be found at 410 US 113, 93 S. Ct. 705 and 35 L.Ed.2d 147. The citations are referred to as parallel citations. They provide you with the same document in different reporters.
An existing opinion, usually published, which because of its similar facts and legal issues, serves to guide a court in the case before it. Our common law system is based upon precedent. Courts will want to look to principles established in earlier cases. Those decisions which involve similar facts or legal issues serve to guide a court and are regarded as precedent.
An embodiment of the law, whether statutory, administrative (regulations) or case law. The United States Code is a primary source. A book discussing and explaining the code is a secondary source. See infra, "Secondary authority/sources."
Rule or order issued by an agency of the executive branch of government which has the force of law. Regulations must be authorized by the statute and generally provide more details on a particular subject than does the authorizing statute. For example, at the federal level, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the subject compilation of current federal agency regulations. They are initially published chronologically in the Federal Register.
Secondary source produced by the American Law Institute and authored by legal scholars and experts that set forth statements of major areas of law (as contracts, torts, trusts, and property) and are widely referred to in jurisprudence but are not binding.
Materials that explain analyze and interpret primary authority or sources. Examples are law review articles, encyclopedias, and books. These sources can lead you to key primary sources as well as other secondary sources.
The written enactment from a legislative body, whether federal or state. Federal statutes are published chronologically (in the order they are enacted) in Statutes at Large and are then codified (statutes currently in force organized by subject) in the United States Code.
The court level of a "supreme court" varies by jurisdiction. In most jurisdictions, including the federal, the Supreme Court is the highest court or court of last resort. In New York, the Supreme Court is the name for the trial court while the highest court is the Court of Appeals.
Torts are civil wrongs recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. These wrongs result in an injury or harm constituting the basis for a claim by the injured party. While some torts are also crimes punishable with imprisonment, the primary aim of tort law is to provide relief for the damages incurred and deter others from committing the same harms.
Scholarly secondary sources which provide an analysis of the law in an area, the background to the law's development, and more detailed examples to the various possible alternative developments for a particular area. They will often argue the direction the law should be developed, pushing it to the cutting edge. How respected or authoritative a particular treatise is will depend on the respect a court will have for that author.