California Law
Legal Research
January 28,2011
APPELLATE PROCESS
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FACTUAL DISPUTE IS RESOLVED AT TRIAL COURT(NO CASE LAW
RESULTS)
LOSING PARTY FILES APPEAL IN INTERMEDIATE APPELLATE COURT
(EXCEPTION--PROSECUTOR IN CRIMINAL CASE CANNOT APPEAL NOT
GUILTY VERDICT
APPELLATE COURT REVIEWS CASE AND RENDERS A WRITTEN OPINION
(OPINION BECOMES CASE LAW IF PUBLISHED AND IF NO FURTHER
APPEAL)
LOSING PARTY CAN SEEK FURTHER REVIEW IN HIGHEST COURT (OFTEN
BY FILING PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI)
IF HIGH COURT GRANTS A HEARING IT REVIEWS ACTIONS IN LOWER
COURTS AND RENDERS A WRITTEN OPINION (THIS OPINION BECOMES
CASE LAW IF FINAL)
IF CASE LAW CONTAINS CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE, LOSING PARTY CAN
REQUEST HEARING IN U.S. SUPREME COURT
IF COURT GRANTS A HEARING IT REVIEWS LOWER COURT ACTIONS AND
RENDERS A WRITTEN OPINION WHICH BECOMES CASE LAW
Legal Research Materials
• Primary Sources of Law—books or
electronic sources that contain the law
itself
• Secondary Sources of Law—books or
sources that describe or explain the law;
these help us find primary law
Primary Sources
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Constitutions
Statutes
Case Law
Ordinances
Administrative Regs
Rules of court
Publication of Case Law
• Case Reporters (print)
– Multi volume sets of books,
– Report cases chronologically
– Report cases according to jurisdiction
• Federal v. state
• Court of appeals v. Supreme Courts
– Official v. unofficial
• Same cases may be published in multiple court reporters
• Meaning of parallel cites
• Electronic publications
Locating Cases
• To locate a case in print requires a citation
– (name of court reporter, volume, page and
series)
• To locate a case online:
– Citation
– Name
– Subject matter
CALIFORNIA CASE
REPORTERS
• Official Reporters
– CALIFORNIA REPORTS = Cal. (California Supreme Court)
– CALIFORNIA APPELLATE REPORTS = Cal. App. (California
Appellate Courts)
• Unofficial Reporters
– CALIFORNIA REPORTER = Cal. Rptr. Unofficial reporter for
both courts
– PACIFIC REPORTER = P. Unofficial reporter for Cal. Supreme
Ct. cases
Federal Case Law
(In Print)
• U.S. Supreme Court
– United States
Reports (U.S.)
– Supreme Court
Reporter (S.Ct.)
– Lawyer’s Edition
(L.Ed.)
• Lower Fed. Courts
– Federal Reports (F.)
(Courts of Appeal
– Federal Supplement
(F.Supp.) (District
Courts)
– Specialty Reporters
Chapter 4: Finding and Using the
Law
How to Read a Case Citation
Miranda v. Arizona,
case name
384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694
(1966)
official citation parallel citations
year
Chapter 4: Finding and Using the
Law
384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d
694 (1966)
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Find correct reporter
Find correct series
Find correct volume
Find correct page
Reading a Case
• Identify editorial enhancements
• summary
• headnotes
• attorneys
• Identify Court Opinion
• Identify Concurring Opinions
• Identify Dissenting Opinions
How to Read a Case Opinion
• Identify the parties
• at trial
• on appeal
• Identify the legal issue on appeal
• Identify facts that are relevant to issue
• Identify “holding” or decision
• Identify reason for decision
CALIFORNIA CODES
• ANNOTATED--contain short summaries of cases that
interpret the code section
• UNANNOTATED--contain just the codes
• POCKET PART SUPPLEMENT--found in back of code
books; contains latest code revisions and latest case
interpretations
Finding a Code Section
• U.S. codes are organized numerically by title
and number, I.e. 11 U.S.C. §245
• Cal Codes are organized alphabetically by code
name and then numerically by section. Cal. Civ.
Code §1714
Reading a Code Section
• Always go to pocket part supplement first.
• Check date on supp.
• If code section not found then go to main book, but
remember, there may be new interpretive cases in
supp.
• If code section is found in supp, then ignore main
book
Reading a Code Section
• Break code section into elements
• Always read interpretive cases
Secondary Sources
• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedias
• Form Books
• Periodicals
• Treatises
• Digests
Chapter 4: Finding and Using the
Law
POPULAR CALIFORNIA
SECONDARY SOURCES
• Witkin, Series
• Bender Forms
• California
Jurisprudence (Cal.
Jur.)
• Rutter Group Books
• C.E.B. Books
• Law Reviews