legal sources and systems test

What is the purpose of citations?

For reader to find material easily: the court that decided the case, the year it was decided, the location

What needs to be included in a statutory citation?

Date it was published, name of the code, session, and the legislative body/agency that wrote/published the statute

WI Citations

Post January 1, 2000: Public Domain, WI Reports, Northwestern Reporter

Federal Citations

Supreme: U.S.

Example WI Citation

Glaeske v. Shaw, 2003 WI App 71, 261 Wis. 2d 549, 661 N.W.2d 72

When can unpublished decisions be cited?

Starting July 1st, 2009

The name of the WI reporters

Public domain, Wisconsin Reports, and North Western Reporter

The name of federal reporters

United States Reports (or Supreme Court or Lawyers' Edition if unavailable); Federal Reporter, or Federal Supplement

En banc opinion

opinion issued in a case that was heard by all judges of a court

majority opinion

Opinion subscribed to by a majority of the judges who heard the case

concurring opinion

An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.

dissenting opinion

opinion that disagrees with the result of the majority opinion

de novo

anew

slip law

The first place statutes are published individually

Slip opinion

The first time a court's opinion is published individually

Session law

Compilation of all slip laws chronologically arranged from legislative session (statutes at large)

Per curiam

by the court, unsigned

Code

Topical organization scheme

Annotated code

Code + legislative history/regulations

Holding

Judgment + critical facts

Statutes at Large

U.S. Congress session law

Petitioner

the party bringing a lawsuit/appeal

Respondent

The party responding to the suit/appeal

Brief

persuasive argument

Motion

request

Parallel Citations

When case appears in more than one reporter

Annotated statutes

Statutory code with judicial history/interpretation

Canons of Construction

Rules governing the judicial interpretation of constitutions, statutes, and other written instruments.

Plain Meaning

Interpret laws according to the commonly accepted meaning of the words used in the law

Legislative History

examining the intention of the legislators who wrote the statute

Ejusdem Generis

Of the same kind. In an enumeration of certain things or conditions which also contains a catch-all phrase, the latter is limited to things or conditions of the same type as those enumerated. Thus, a listing of physical properties which contains the phrase, "and any other thing," would not be construed to apply to intangible matters.

Expressio unius est exclusio alterius

Assumption that, if no "catch-all," a list was meant to be interpreted as exhaustive

Specific Controls the General

If two statutes governing the same issue conflict, as assumption that the more specific statute is controlling

Administrative Interpretation

If an administrative body has interpreted, may lend credence to how it should be interpreted

Implied Exceptions

Reviewing courts may find an implied exception to a statute where clear application of the law would create an absurd result

Rule of Lenity

If penal statutes are ambiguous, the court may interpret them in favor of the defendant

Citator

Shephard's (Lexis), KeyCite (Westlaw)

Discretionary Review

the ability of the Supreme Court to decide whether it will hear a case or not

Treatise

Scholarly secondary source providing in-depth analysis of a particular area of law

Advance sheet

Pamphlets containing recently decided opinions of federal courts or state courts of a particular region

Restatements

published by the American Law Institute

Legal Encyclopedias

Summarize the law by topic, arranged alphabetically

Treatises

Scholarly works that contain critical commentary and analysis, as well as background information, historical information, and references to primary materials

Practice Manuals

Focus on providing assistance to the practitioner in understanding and using the law, rather than generating scholarly commentary (usually more specific than treatises)

Legal Periodicals

Law review articles and bar journal articles

ALR Annotations

American Law Reports' articles summarizing case law across the country dealing with particular legal topics

Restatements of the Law

Compilations of rules, illustrations, and commentary prepared by ALI to organize and clarify the principles of common law

Loose-leaf Services / Subject-Matter Services

Gather a variety of materials pertaining to a particular specialty of law

Hornbooks/Nutshells

Provide a general overview of the important topics in a particular area of law; provide a good alternative to legal encyclopedias as starting points

50-State Survey

Tool on WestLaw and Nexis that gives an overview of how each state approaches a particular area of law

Attorney General Opinions

Helpful and persuasive in statutory interpretation

Uniform Acts and Model Codes

Influence statutory law in the same way restatements influence common law

Words and Phrases

Provides helpful references to cases that construe certain legal terms of art

Pattern jury instructions

Form the core instructions for most jury trials

Jury verdict reports

Compile information about jury trial outcomes and sort them by jurisdiction and cause of action

Digests

Collections of short case abstracts, or annotations, that are arranged alphabetically by subject matter
Westlaw (KeyNumber System), Nexis, and Bloomberg all have online digest functionality

Citators

(1) validate authorities; (2) find for a given case, statute, or regulation all of the cases (and other materials) that have cited that authority

Constitutions

Primary authority; foundational documents of a legal system

Statutes

Product of legislation

Order the Following:
- Session Law
- Statutory Code
- Slip Laws
- Bills

Bills-->Slip laws-->Session law-->Statutory code

Where are federal laws published?

The United States Code (U.S.C.) (Statutory Code) and the United States Statutes at Large (Session Law)

SCOTUS Reporters

U.S. Reports (U.S.) (official), Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.), United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition (L.Ed.)

US Courts of Appeals Reporter

Federal Reporter

US District Courts Reporter

Federal Supplement

Additional District-Court Decisions Pertaining to Federal Procedural Rules

Federal Rules Decisions

What are treatises?

Single or Multivolume books on particular legal subjects

What are law review or law journal articles?

Useful for their depth of analysis and extensive footnotes, they often deal with specialized or developing areas of the law

What are American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur2d) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)?

The two national legal encyclopedias

Which is not a secondary source: The Restatement, the UCC, the Wisconsin Administrative Code, or the Model Penal Code?

The Wisconsin Administrative Code

What are A.L.R. Annotations?

Articles that collect information and and authorities from all U.S. jurisdictions related to a case or law. The articles are collected in books called "American Law Reports"

What is the North Western Reporter?

Regional reporter that contains opinions from Wisconsin state courts

What is the Uniform Court Rule?

The rule that requires Wisconsin Courts of Appeals follow sister districts on questions of law that have already been addressed

What are trial courts called in Wisconsin?

Circuit courts

How many appellate districts are there in Wisconsin?

Four

What is the full and formal name of the federal appellate court that includes Wisconsin?

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

The headnotes on this research tool are prepared by editors, not the court

Westlaw

What is a digest or headnote search?

If you locate a relevant case from a different jurisdiction, this technique may help locate similar case(s) in your jurisdiction

What should you do if you are struggling to locate controlling cases on your issue after multiple tries?

Broaden search terms and/or search for secondary sources

The headnotes on this research tool are not written by an editor, but taken directly from the language of the court's opinion

Lexis Headnotes

Boolean search string to find cat within 3 words of dog in the same paragraph as rabies or rabid

cat /3 dog /p rabi!

What are the three most popular fee-based online legal research services?

Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg

What is a reason to look at cases cited within a relevant case you locate?

To expand/add to your research

What does a red flag or stop sign indicate?

The case has significant negative treatment for at least one point of law (flag on KeyCite, stop sign on Shepard's)

What are citing references?

The part of a KeyCite display that shows everything that has ever cited to your case

Which decisions are not typically available on Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg?

State trial court decisions

What is the official codification of U.S. statutory law?

The United States Code (U.S.C.)

What is the chronological order of a law

Bill, Slip law, Session law, Codified statute

What are titles?

The fifty categories of our federal statutes

What are annotated codes/statutes?

Provide summaries of cases interpreting a statue, legislative history, citations to article related to statute

What is the proper short form for U.S. code sections?

Id., sec.(symbol) 2703(d)

What are canons of construction?

Principles applied to interpret the meaning of ambiguous statutes

What is en banc?

A case heard or to be heard before all judges of a court

What is primary law?

Law that is created by a branch of government, such as case opinions, statutes, and regulations

What is a concurring opinion?

An opinion that agrees with the Court's disposition of the case but is written to express a particular judge's reasoning

What is certiorari?

What the Supreme Court grants if it decides to review one or more issues in a case

Which courts can overrule a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit?

The Supreme Court of the United States and the 9th Circuit

When the Northern District of Illinois hears a case involving violation of Illinois state consumer fraud law, what court(s) bind?

The Illinois Supreme Court

If a Wisconsin court of appeals is hearing a case involving a First Amendment violation, which court is binding?

The U.S. Supreme Court

What non-binding authority can be a helpful place to start if you're facing a specific state issue?

A practice guide or practice manual

On what type of issue is the US Supreme Court not binding?

State law