American Law Reports
(ALR)
American Law Reports
(ALR)
• In this lesson:
– What is an ALR annotation?
– How are ALRs organized?
– How do I update ALR annotations?
What is an ALR annotation?
• American Law Reports’ (ALR) annotations are
based upon cases that represent emerging,
unsettled or changing areas of the law or legal
issues.
• The annotations (often called ‘articles’) are
written by legal scholars, using the case as the
basis for the annotation. They provide an
objective analysis of the current state of the law
in this area.
• Articles explore the law of the jurisdictions that
have dealt with this issue and include
references to cases on both sides of the issue.
Organization of an ALR Annotation
In print, American Law Reports are published in series.
– Federal Series, Second (ALR Fed 2d) 2005– Federal Series (ALR Fed.),
1969 to 2005
– Sixth Series (ALR6th)
2005– Fifth Series (ALR5th)
1991 – 2005
– Fourth Series (ALR4th)
1980 – 1992
– Third Series (ALR3d)*
1965 – 1980
– Second Series (ALR2d)*
1948 – 1965
– First Series (ALR) *
1919 – 1948
*ALR3d and the earlier series analyze both state and federal
issues.
Features of individual articles1
Total Client-Service Library® and other research
references
• legal encyclopedias and texts
• practice aids
• law review articles
• electronic search queries
• West Key Numbers
• ALR Digest
1 Features
vary somewhat by series.
Features of individual articles
Jurisdictional
table of cases
An Article Outline and Index to
topics included in the annotation.
Text of
article
Finding Aids in Each Volume
Each recent volume includes
– Contents (annotations in the volume)
– Subjects Annotated in the volume
– Table of Cases reported in the volume
– Series 4th - 6th and ALR Fed 2d include
instructions explaining
• how to find an article
• how to use an article
• a graphic showing how to
update an annotation
Finding Aids
ALR Indexes
• Multivolume ALR Index
– lists articles by subject matter
– includes all ALR volumes, except
those in the First Series
– is updated with annual pocket parts
• ALR Federal Quick Index
• ALR Quick Index for ALR 3rd - 6th series
Finding Aids
West’s ALR Digest
• West’s ALR Digest classifies ALR articles according to the
West Key Number System, which is divided into more
than 700 topics arranged alphabetically.
• Under each topic are headnotes from cases reported in the
entire ALR family along with a list of the articles that deal
with the particular subject in question.
• The entire ALR series are included in West’s ALR Digest.
Updating ALR Articles
There are two things to check for when
updating an ALR annotation:
1.
Has the annotation been revised or replaced because
of a change in the law (superseded)?
2.
Have new cases been decided since the publication of
the annotation that relate to this subject?
Updating ALR Articles
• Check the annual supplement in the back
of the main volumes in the ALR 3d – 6th,
ALR Fed and ALR Fed 2d series to locate
citations to more recent relevant cases and
new sections .
• Digests of cases are keyed to the correct
section of each article.
• ALR2d is kept current by a multivolume
ALR2d Later Case Service.
Updating ALR Articles
• Latest Case Service Hotline
updates each supplement. The
phone number
(1-800-225-7488) is printed on
the cover of each supplement.
• Annotations are updated
weekly on Westlaw.
Superseding and Supplementing
Annotations
• The analysis of the law as presented in an early article may
be changed by later case law.
• Articles in the first and second series were often
supplemented by a later article and the original and the
supplementing articles had to be read together.
• Annotation History Table in the last volume of the ALR
Index gives the history of articles in all the ALR series.
• KeyCite History on Westlaw also shows whether an ALR
articles has been superseded or supplemented.
Superseding Articles
62 ALR4th 16 has
superseded both
75 ALR2d 833 and
97 ALR3d 528.
A red KeyCite flag is
displayed on superseded
ALR annotations.
Superseded by
Superseded in Part by
ALR on Westlaw
• In the ALR database on Westlaw, there are often
very current articles that discuss recent issues of
interest that have not yet appeared in the print
version.
• To quickly access the Total Client-Service Library,
Article (Annotation) Outline or other references,
click Document Outline on the Links for tab in the
left frame of the retrieved ALR article. (See next
slide.)
• Sample query in ALR Database:
ti(“social host” /s liab!)
• In the print ALR volumes, the lead case precedes the article or,
in ALR5th, all cases are printed at the end of the volume.
• You can use the Find service on Westlaw to retrieve either the
ALR lead case or the ALR article.
Find 62 alr4th 1 - retrieves the case
Find 62 alr4th 16 - retrieves the article
• The ALR case citation is a parallel citation to
the state, regional, or federal reporter citation.
• On Westlaw, the lead case is not in the ALR database.
It
can be found in the appropriate state, regional, or federal case
database(s).
Accessing ALR Features on
Westlaw
Click Document Outline on the Links for tab to
display online finding aids for each ALR article.