CML 3319: Advanced Legal Research
Methodology (Winter 2011)
American Law
Cecilia Tellis, Law Librarian
Brian Dickson Law Library

 Overview of the American legal system
 Legal resources to locate case law, statutes and journal articles
 Exercise

 To consult secondary sources
 To consult case law and legislation
 Noting up cases and statutes found.

Court of Last Resort
Hears only appeals on questions of law.
Ex. : Supreme Court (at federal or state level), Supreme Court of Appeals, Supreme Judicial Court, Court of Appeals
Appeal Court
Hears appeals on questions of law or fact.
Ex. : Court of Appeals, Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, Appellate Division of the Supreme
Court
Court of First Instance
Either before a judge alone or a judge and jury. Courses often have names that indicate their areas of jurisdiction.
Ex. : Small Claims Court, Criminal Court, District Court, Supreme Court.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
CIRCUIT COURTS
OF APPEALS (11)
& DC CIRCUIT
Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit
COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE
ARMED FORCES
District courts
(97)
Tax court
Court of
International
Trade
Court of
Federal
Claims
Court of
Appeals for
Veterans’
Claims
Army, Navy, Marine
Corps, Air Force, Coast
Guard Courts of
Military Review
Court of Last Resort for each state

NEW YORK COURT OF APPEAL
APPELLATE DIVISIONS OF
SUPREME COURT (4)
APPELLATE TERMS
OF SUPREME
COURT
Supreme courts (12)
County courts (57)
Court of
Claims
Family
Court
Surrogate’s court (62)
City Court
District courts

 Monographs
– Wigmore on Evidence; Corbin on Contracts
 Legal Periodicals
– HeinOnline, Index to Legal Periodicals Fulltext, LegalTrac.
 Legal Dictionaries
– Black’s Law Dictionary
 Legal encyclopedias
– Corpus Juris Secundum (available on Westlaw Canada or in print SLR
4-(59-60) )
– American Jurisprudence (available on LexisNexis/Quicklaw and
Westlaw or in print SLR 4-60 )
– American Law Reports (“A.L.R.”)

 National reporters (superior courts):
– U.S. Supreme Court Reports (1790-)
– Supreme Court Reporter (1882)
– Federal Reporter (1880-)
– Federal Supplement (1933-)

 States Reporters :
– Atlantic Reporter (1885-)
– North Eastern Reporter (1885-)
– North Western Reporter (1879-)
– South Eastern Reporter (1887-)
– South Western Reporter (1886 -)
– Southern Reporter (1887-)
– New York Supplement (1888-)
– California Reporter (1959-)

 Digests of cases
– Digests (three series):
• Century Digest (1896-)
• Decennial Digests (1897-1906, 1907-1916, etc.)
• General Digest (updating the last issue published of the
Decennial Digest)

 Is the case still good law?
– Has not been overturned
– How the case has been treated by new cases
• The case has been considered, distingued, applied, etc.
 Tools:
– LexisNexis/Quicklaw (Shepard),
– Westlaw Canada (KeyCite)
– Shephard’s Citations (in print)

 U.S. Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov
or Cornell’s LII: ( http://supct.law.cornell.edu
/supct)
 Lower Federal Courts: http://www.jsutica.com/courts/federal-courts/
 Westlaw Canada
 LexisNexis/Quicklaw

- The U.S. Constitution has been put in place in 1789.
- This document establishes the government as well as three powers:
Congress (the legislature);
President (executive branch) and,
Federal courts (the judiciary).
 The Constitution has created several levels of government: a national federal government; an independent government in each State, and, a government for each city.

 The Constitution lists the areas of federal jurisdiction.
– ex. : taxes, social security, environment, l’impôt, …
 State governments and municipal governments have the right to legislate in any other field.
 The Constitution and federal statutes are the supreme law of the country.

 Before it is official, a bill must be passed by both houses – the House of
Representatives and the Senate– and the
President must sign it
– The President has the right to veto any legislation

 Each state legislature is divided into two chambers - the House of Representatives and the Senate (or similar names like General
Assembly))
– they both have the right to impose laws that will apply in the state in question

 Some federal agencies are part of the executive and have the right to establish regulations.
 - ex. : Food and Drug Administration, which determines which drugs can be offered to the public
 There are also state agencies who have similar power.
– ex. : Department of Motor Vehicles from
California

 Bill (H.R. 676 or S. 612)
 Slip Law (Pub.L. No. 103-416)
 Session Laws
– Published in Statutes at Large, official source
 United States Code and United States Code
Annotated
– Organized in 50 titles (topics), published every 6 years.
– Index of statutes organized by title or by « Popular Name »
 United States Code Service, Lawyers’s Edition

 U.S. Constitution: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/index.html
 Sources for Slip/Session Laws
 http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d111/d111laws.html
 United States Code
– On GPO Access: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html
– Cornell’s LII- US Code Collection: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/

 Code of Federal Regulations
– http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr
 State Law (Cornell LII’s Law By Source:
States)
– http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html

 THOMAS
– Like LEGISinfo : all sorts of information on bills introduced in Congress
– since 1995 (the 104th Congress)

 The Bluebook : A Uniform System of
Citation (18th ed.)
– Harvard Law Review

 U.S. Courts
 Understanding the Federal Courts , a document created by the Administrative
Office of the Courts of the United States
 A Guide to Legal Literacy , a document created by the State Bar of California
 Library of Congress
 Our Research guide on American law

 In print:
– Armstrong, J.D.S. Where the Law is : An Introduction to Advanced Legal Research, 3rd ed. (St. Paul, MN : Thomson/West, c2009). FTX General KF 240 .A76 2009
– Berring, Robert C. Finding the law, 12 th ed. St. Paul, MN : Thomson/West, c2005.
– FTX Reference KF 240 .C538 2005
– McCormack, Nancy, John Papadopoulos and Catherine Cotter. The Practical Guide to
Canadian Legal Research, 3rd ed. (Toronto : Carswell, c2010). FTX Reserve KE 250 .C37
2010
– Olson, Kent C. Principles of Legal Research (Successor to How to Find the Law, 9th
edition) St. Paul, MN : West, c2009. FTX Reference KF 240 .C538 2009