Working with Case Law

• The Courts

  Courts in the United States exist in a hierarchical structure

  • Federal Courts
    • US Supreme Court
      • Court "of last resort"
      • Abbreviated as "U.S. S. Ct."
    • US Courts of Appeals
      • Appeals court - panel of judges (no jury)
      • Referred to as the nth Circuit
      • Abbreviated as "nth Cir." in official citations
    • US District Courts
      • Trial court - one judge presides (may have jury)
      • Referred to as X.D.Jur. (e.g., E.D.Va., S.D.N.Y., S.D.Ca.)
  • State Courts
    • Every state has its own hierarchy (although some are in common)
    • Generally the state will have three levels of court as well
      • In most states, the highest court is also called a Supreme Court
      • In some states, the highest court has other names (e.g., NY Court of Appeals)
    • Below the trial court, may be county, municipal, or other courts

• The Reporters

  Cases are published in books called "reporters" and are cited according to the volume and page number (vvv REPTR ppp)

  • Federal Courts
    • US Supreme Court
      • Most commonly reported in US, S. Ct., or L. Ed.
      • Very old cases are cited in things like Cranch
    • US Court of Appeals
      • Most commonly reported in F.2d (read as "Fed Second")
    • US District Courts
      • Most commonly reported in F.Supp.2d (read as "Fed Supp Second")
  • State Courts
    • Reported in a state reporter such as "Ariz" or "Ark"
    • Reported in a regional reporthttp://www.legalbluebook.com/er such as "So. 2nd"

• Basic Terms
  • Courts are asked to decide "questions of law" and "questions of fact"
    • A "holding" is that part of the text in a case which actually decides one of these questions
    • "Dicta" is general discussion of law which does not decide on these questions
      • But may provide clues to how a court thinks or might rule in the future

The preceding is an over-simplification of the US legal system, but should be sufficient for our research purposes.

Detailed descriptions of all citations appear in the The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th Edition) (Learn more)