JUDICIAL BRANCH INFORMATION SOURCES
Where Law is Created in the American Government
Common Law
Primary Sources of the Law
Secondary Sources of the Law Textual Treatments of the Law
Characteristics of the Primary Sources of the Law
PPT Slide
Powers of the Judicial Branch
THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM IS BASED ON PRECEDENT
Stare Decisis “The duty to follow precedent”
Stare Decisis
Legal Authority
Legal Authority Types of Legal Information
Court Reports and Reporters
Court Reports
OFFICIAL/UNOFFICIAL REPORTS
Forms of Published Decisions
Components of a Published Decision
Case Citations
Headnotes
Star Pagination / Star Paging
Harvard Bluebook A Uniform System of Citation
Organization of the Bluebook
Federal Court Citation
State/Regional Citation
LEGAL CITATION - ONLINE RESOURCES
United States Supreme Court
U. S. Supreme Court
Publication of Supreme Court Case Law - Official
Publication of Supreme Court Case Law - Unofficial
Parallel Citations
Computer Assisted Legal Research Online Databases
FEDERAL CASE LAW PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET
Supreme Court Decisions on the Internet - Cornell University
Supreme Court Decisions on the Internet
Information about the Supreme Court on the Internet
Information on the Supreme Court Justices
Federal Courts
Publication on Federal Case Law
U.S. Court of Appeals Decisions on the Internet
U.S. District Court Decisions on the Internet
State Case Law Reports
STATE CASE LAW REPORTS
National Reporter System
NATIONAL REPORTER SYSTEM
National Reporter System West Editorial System
STATE REGIONAL REPORTERS
National Reporter System reports are all presented in a uniform format:
EDITORIAL FEATURES
ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION OF STATE CASE LAW
MULTISTATE SITES FOR STATE CASE LAW ON THE WWW
FINDING TOOLS
DIGESTS
FINDING TOOLS Digests
FINDING THE RIGHT KEY NUMBER
FINDING TOOLS: Annotated Law Reports
OTHER CASE FINDERS
SECONDARY SOURCES OF THE LAW Textual Treatments of the Law.
HOW DO SECONDARY SOURCES HELP RESEARCHERS
PUBLICATION OF LEGAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS
LEGAL DICTIONARIES
ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION OF LEGAL DICTIONARIES
LEGAL PERIODICALS
SUBJECT ACCESS TO LEGAL PERIODICALS
LEGAL DIRECTORIES
ATTORNEY OR LAW FIRM DIRECTORY
LEGAL DIRECTORIES ON THE INTERNET
TYPES OF LEGAL DIRECTORIES
Email: chandler@lis.admin.unt.edu
Home Page: http://courses.unt.edu/chandler/
Other information: Copyright 1999, Dr. Yvonne Chandler