Secondary Authority and Other Research Sources

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to secondary legal research sources and methodologies as discussed in Chapter 5.

Secondary Authority

Legal research sources that summarize, compile, explain, comment on, interpret, or otherwise address the law.

Legal Encyclopedias

Designed to provide an overview of all areas of law, summarizing rather than analyzing it.

American Law Reports (ALR)

Publishes the text of leading state and federal court opinions addressing specific issues, followed by annotations.

Treatises

Comprehensive texts that provide an in-depth analysis of a single area of law, more detailed than a legal encyclopedia.

Digests

Sets of books that organize the law by topic and provide citations to and summaries of court opinions.

Citing Citations

The process of using Shepard’s or KeyCite to validate the current status of a legal authority.

Pocket Part

Supplemental publication used to update volumes of legal encyclopedias and treatises.

Persuasive Authority

Legal sources that are not binding on the courts but may be relied upon in decision-making.

West’s Key Number Digest System

Organizes law into main categories and assigns key numbers to specific subtopics for easy reference.

Computers-Aided Research

Utilizing digital databases like Westlaw and LexisNexis to access legal research resources.

Updated Research

A method to ensure the validity of a legal source, typically by consulting supplementary references.

Citation Rule

Format for citing legal sources in written research, which includes volume number, name, title, section, and year.

Scope Section (in ALR)

Identifies what is included and excluded in an annotation, providing clarity on its content.

Research Techniques

Methods for locating legal information, including using indexes, tables of contents, and other guides.

Shepardizing

The process of checking a legal case or statute for its current validity and treatment in later cases.