Intro to U.S. Legal Research

Dana Neacsu

What Are Primary Sources?

The law: “official pronouncements of lawmakers” Statutes

But also Rules and regulations, and Court decisions (Common Law

System) Sources which may be binding authority Repositories of law (its tangible aspect)

Federal Repositories of Statutory Law Statutes Statutory law -- Session laws

(chronological compilations) Codes (subject matter compilations)

Federal Statutory Law: United States Statutes at Large

(Stat.)P.Law Congress – Sequential Identifier

United States Code (code)U.S.C.U.S.C.A. (West)U.S.C.S.

USC: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/browse.html

The Bluebook: Citing Statutes

Federal statutes should be cited to the current official code (the United States Code, which is abbreviated as U.S.C.)

Rule 12: a codified statutory citation contains four basic elements: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000).

Rule 12: a citation to the official compilation of federal session laws (Statutes at Large, abbr: Stat) contains six basic elements: An Act to Permit Civil Suits under Section 1979 of

the Revised Statutes (42 USC 1983)…, Pub. L. No. 96-170, § 1, 93 Stat. 1284 (1979) (amending, An Act to Enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S., c. 22, 17 Stat. 13 (1871))

Let’s Look at a Federal Statute!

42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000)

Ch. 22, 17 Stat. 13 (1871) amended byPub. L. No. 96-170, 93 Stat. 1284 (1979)

Federal Repositories of Case Law Cases Decisional law Reports

Jurisdictional compilations of cases (federal, state, etc). Federal Reports:

United States Supreme Court Reports (3)U.S.S.Ct.L.Ed

Federal Reporter (West): F, F2d, F3d Federal Supplement (West): F.Supp,

F.Supp.2d

The Bluebook: Citing Cases

Rule 10: a full case citation includes four elements The name of the case; The abbreviation of the published

source where it can be found (reporter);

A parenthetical that indicates the court and jurisdiction; and

The date or year of the decision.

Let’s Look at a Case!

• Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1 Cranch)(1803):

• Reporters• Print• Digital

• Free-of-charge repositories (Oyez; Curiae-Yale; lexisOne; Findlaw; Google Scholar)

• Fee-based repositories (Westlaw Lexis & Bloomberg)

NY State Law (research w Westlaw/Lexis/ Bloomberg)

NY State Statutes McKinney’s NY State Statutes http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi?

COMMONQUERY=LAWS

NY Case Law (reporters) Official (New York Reports: 3) Commercial (New York: 1)

Repositories of Administrative Law Rules and Regulations Administrative

law Administrative Register (chronological compilations) Codes (subject matter compilations) Federal Administrative Law:

Federal Register (chronological compilation)

Code of Federal Regulations (code)http://www.gpoaccess.gov/CFR/

The Bluebook: Citing Rules Federal administrative rules should be cited

to the current official code (the Code of Federal Regulations, which is abbreviated as C.F.R.)

Rule 14: a codified citation contains four basic elements:

7 C.F.R. § 319.77-2 (2007). Rule 14: a citation to the official

chronological compilation of federal rules (Federal Register, abbr: Fed.Reg.) contains five basic elements:

Regulated Articles, 71 Fed.Reg. 40,878 (July 19, 2006)

Overview

Primary Sources Statutory & Administrative Law Research

Codes, Session Laws, etc. Legislative History tools and techniques

Rules and Regulations Case Law Research

Full-text searching Other approaches

Helping a Patron Do Legal Research --Framing a legal inquiry What information do you know? What information do you need to know? Case law or statutory law? Are you ready to start researching

cases/statutes, or do you need to learn more about the topic first?

Using Secondary Sources – Legal Scholarship - Treatises A client has negotiated a million-dollar deal to

purchase a piece or real property commonly known as The Brooklyn Bridge, with an option to purchase the Lincoln Tunnel for a fixed price of $1 million paid in six installments. The agreement is completely oral. She has already sent a check with the first installment..

What is the legal issue? How can one search it?

Framing your Inquiry

Issue Statute of Frauds (oral K) Mistake/error as to the object of the K (rescission)

Where should your patron start?

Secondary Source Finding Aids

library catalogs index to legal periodicals

Legal Scholarship treatises law review articles

Using Electronic Sources for Finding a Treatise on Westlaw & Lexis Lexis publications are on Lexis

Corbin on Contracts Nimmer on Copyright

West publications are on Westlaw Wright & Miller’s Federal Practice and Procedure Williston on Contracts

What primary sources should be used? What primary sources should be used?

NY Case Law Update results

Good luck with your exam!