Case Law:
A Research Guide
Contents: What is Case Law? | Legal Citation | Court Reporters | Digests | Encyclopedias | Supreme Court Opinions on the Internet | Delaware State Courts | Table of Courts & Case Reporters
What is Case Law?
There are three types of law which prevail at the federal, state, and local levels of government in the United States: Statutory Law, Case (or Judicial Law), and Regulations (or Administrative Law). Case law is the law of reported judicial opinions. Opinions are also known as reports or decisions. NOT all opinions published; trial court opinions are seldom published. A reported judicial opinion may include: majority or plurality opinion, concurrences or dissents, and a prefatory syllabus.
"Stare Decisis" (or precedent) is the basic concept of case law (common law) in which courts look to statutes and regulations and prior court decisions to formulate opinions. One method of determining prior law is to "Shepardize" a citation, using the Shepard's Citations volumes.
Legal Citation
The legal citation for a case identifies the name of the court reporter in which the opinion is published, the volume number, and the page on which the opinion begins. Sometimes opinions are published in more than one reporter. These are called "parallel citations." LexisNexis Academic (a Library database) includes notations and page numbers of all the parallel citations for a case, including the Lexis citation. To identify a case in a research paper, use the name of the case and a legal citation taken from a print reporter. The Lexis citation may be included as a convenience.
438 U.S. 265
438 [volume] U.S. [Abbr. of case reporter] 265 [page number]1978 U.S. Lexis 5
1978 [year] U.S. [Abbr. of court] Lexis 5 [Lexis number] [parallel citation for the above case]
Court Reporters
- Contain published or reported opinions of the court
- Are arranged chronologically
- Are published by jurisdiction. Delaware is in Atlantic region and Third Circuit.
- The federal government publishes United States Reports -- the reporter of the Supreme Court
- Note: bound volumes of United States Reports contain the fourth and final generation of the Court's opinions and additional materials (U.S. Documents Reference Ju 6.8:). Earlier generations include: Ju 6.8/a: and Ju 6.8/b:
- Reporters for other jurisdictions are commercially published
- One case may be published in more than one reporter; citations to additional sources are called parallel citations
- For a listing of the most popular reporters and their digests, see the Table of Courts & Case Reporters
Digests and Regional Digests
- Are multi-volume subject indexes to case law
- Are arranged alphabetically by subject (points of law). Each Digest has a multi-volume "Descriptive Index" to assist laypersons in finding points of law
- Are compiled by state, geographic area, or jurisdiction. Delaware is in Atlantic region and Third Circuit
- Are commercially published
- Are updated by pocket parts and pamphlets
- Include table of cases and plaintiff-defendant and defendant-plaintiff case indexes
- West's digests use topic and key number classification, keyed to the West's published court opinions.
- LexisNexis Academic (Library Databases) [restricted to UD] offers keyword searching and may replace using a digest
Encyclopedias & Handbooks
- Provide a narrative overview of legal subjects with footnote reference to case law
- Are arranged alphabetically by subject
- Are a good starting point when unfamiliar with a legal issue
-
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. (WEAL). Minneapolis St. Paul,
MN: West Pub. Co.
Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF154 .W47)
-
Corpus Juris Secundum. (CJS). Minneapolis St. Paul, MN:
West Pub. Co./Thomson West.
Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF154 .C72)
-
United States Supreme Court Decisions, 1778-1996: An Index to Excerpts, Reprints,
and Discussions, 1980-1995. Kelly S. Janousek, ed. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow
Press, 2001.
Location: Morris Library - Reference (Ref KF101.6 .J36 2001) Reference Desk - A list of Supreme Court cases with complete citation information and a bibliography of books and articles published from 1980 to 1995 about Supreme Court cases. Includes indexes by subject and popular name. Continues United States Supreme Court Decisions... by Nancy Anderman Guenther.
Supreme Court Opinions: Free Internet Sources
-
Supreme Court of the United States.
Location: Internet (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html) - Official Web site of the Supreme Court. Provides slip opinions from 2003 to present in PDF format. Provides the complete bound volumes of United States Reports from 1991 (vol. 502) to present in PDF format. Bound volumes of United States Reports contain the fourth and final version of opinions as well as additional materials. The Web site includes a guide called "Information about Opinions."
-
U.S. Supreme
Court Opinions: Cornell. (LII).
Location: Internet (http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/) - Full text of Supreme Court opinions issued since 1990, with selected historic decisions. From Cornell's Legal Information Institute.
-
Supreme Court Decisions: GPO Access.
Location: Internet (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/supcrt/index.html) - Full text of Supreme Court decisions, 1937-1975.
-
U.S. Supreme Court Opinions: Findlaw.
Location: Internet (http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html) - Full text of Supreme Court decisions from FindLaw. Includes decisions since 1893 (U.S. Supreme Court Decisions: U.S. Reports 150-, 1893- ). Browsable by year and U.S. Reports volume number and searchable by citation, case name, and words in the full text of the opinion.
-
Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia.
Location: Internet (http://www.oyez.org/) - A multimedia database. Provides digital audio (RealAudio) of the Oral Arguments in many important cases, as well as several recordings of the announcement of the Court's opinion. Note: The Court began to record its public sessions in October 1955. Provides information about selected major constitutional cases heard and decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, with links to the full text of decisions from 1893 to present via FindLaw. Includes information on the Justices and important cases in which they participated.
Delaware State Courts: Internet
-
Delaware State Courts: Opinions
and Orders.
Location: Internet (http://courts.delaware.gov/opinions/)
Table of Courts & Case Reporters
| COURTS COVERED | CASE REPORTER | DIGESTS |
|---|---|---|
Comprehensive: Federal Courts |
FindLaw (Internet) |
|
Supreme Court |
United States Reports (U.S.) |
U.S. Supreme Court Digest |
|
Lower Federal Courts:
U.S. District Courts |
Federal Reporter (F. or Fed.) |
Federal Digest |
State Courts and Courts of Appeals in nine states: CT, DE, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, VT |
Atlantic Reporter (A. or Atl.) |
Atlantic Reporter Digest |
Delaware State Courts |
Version: 10/2009
Last modified: 10/09/09
