RESEARCHING SOUTH CAROLINA LAW

Professor Lisa Smith-Butler Advanced Legal Research Fall 2016

PRIMARY SOURCES OF SOUTH CAROLINA LAW

As with everything that we’ve reviewed this semester, South Carolina has 3 primary sources of law.

They are: cases; legislation; and regulations.

CASES

Decisions from the South Carolina Supreme Court and the South Carolina Court of Appeals are published in the following print sources: officially in the South Carolina Reports; and unofficially in the South Eastern Reporter, 1st or 2nd series.

SOUTH CAROLINA ADVANCE SHEETS

LOCATING SOUTH CAROLINA STATE CASES

Again, use: citation; party name; or subject searching.

If you are subject searching in print, there is both a South Carolina Digest and a South Eastern Digest, 1st & 2nd Series.

LOCATING SOUTH CAROLINA BRIEFS IN PRINT

Briefs submitted to the South Carolina Supreme Court, from 1918 onwards, are collected in print format by the South Carolina Supreme Court Library.

Briefs submitted to the South Carolina Court of Appeals are collected in print format from 1983 onwards.

SOUTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT LIBRARY

USC COLEMAN KARESH LAW LIBRARY: SELECTED BRIEFS

The University of South Carolina’s Coleman Karesh Law Library has selected briefs of published decisions of the South Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals from 1858 to 2014.

While the briefs have not been digitized, a digital finding tool exists, allowing the researcher to search by keyword, date or citation.

Selected briefs of both published and unpublished South Carolina cases before 1918 are also available at the law library.

BRIEFS AVAILABLE ON BLOOMBERG LAW? NO.

BRIEFS AVAILABLE ON LEXIS ADVANCE? YES WITH DATE LIMITATIONS.

BRIEFS AVAILABLE ON WESTLAWNEXT? YES WITH DATE LIMITATIONS.

SOUTH CAROLINA JUDICIAL WEB SITE

At this time, the South Carolina Judicial site does not post all briefs submitted to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

It does provide streaming video of oral arguments made before the Supreme Court via a video portal. However, no briefs are included.

ROSTER OF CASES

THE SOUTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT’S VIDEO PORTAL

LOCATING SOUTH CAROLINA FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT CASES

Federal court decisions, at the district court level, are decided in federal courts located in Charleston, Columbia, Florence and Greenville.

Decisions from these courts, when published, are published in the print National Reporter source known as the Federal Supplement series.

This resource is also available in electronic format in Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance and WestlawNext.

S.C. FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT CASES ON BLOOMBERG LAW

S.C. FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT CASES ON LEXIS ADVANCE

S.C. FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT CASES ON WESTLAWNEXT

S.C. FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS’ DECISIONS

Decisions from South Carolina’s federal district courts can be appealed to the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit Court in Richmond, VA.

South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia are states within the Fourth Circuit.

Decisions from the 4th Circuit, since 1932, are officially published in print in the Federal Reporter series. This is also available in electronic format in WestlawNext, Lexis Advance and Bloomberg Law.

To use a print resource to locate federal district and circuit court decisions, use the non-cumulating Federal Digest series. There are now five series, beginning coverage in 1754 and continuing to the present.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

FROM THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Decisions from the Fourth Circuit are then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. Supreme Court decisions are published in print (U.S. Reports, Supreme Court Reporter,

Lawyer’s Edition: Supreme Court Reports) and on numerous web sites. These decisions are also available on WestlawNext, Lexis Advance, and Bloomberg Law. Subject searching in print can be done with the cumulative (1754 to the present) Supreme

Court Digest.

COURT RULES: STATE

LEGISLATION

As we saw with the federal system, constitutions, session laws, codes, and municipal codes are examples of legislation that exist at both the state and federal levels.

SOUTH CAROLINA’S CONSTITUTION

EARLIER CONSTITUTIONS South Carolina’s initial Constitution was enacted in 1776. It has been revised and reissued several times, including the following years: 1778, 1790,

1861, 1865, 1868, 1895. Older versions of the Constitution of South Carolina can be located in print and micro

formats.

MAKING OF MODERN LAW: PRIMARY SOURCES

LLMC

SOUTH CAROLINA CODE

Legislation, enacted by the South Carolina legislature, is published in a subject, or code, arrangement of 63 titles known as the Code of Laws of South Carolina 1976 Annotated.

It can be searched via keyword/index, citation or popular name. In addition to the print version, electronic versions are available on WestlawNext, Lexis

Advance, Bloomberg Law, and the South Carolina Legislature Online.

BLOOMBERG LAW

LEXIS ADVANCE

WESTLAWNEXT

SOUTH CAROLINA SESSION LAWS

Known as the Acts and Joint Resolutions of the General Assembly of South Carolina, South Carolina’s session laws are a chronological arrangement of the laws passed by a legislative session, i.e. the equivalent of the federal Statutes at Large.

This is available in print and electronic format on WestlawNext, Lexis Advance, Bloomberg Law, and the South Carolina Legislature Online. The South Carolina Legislature Online has session laws from 1975 to the present.

Online, the session laws can be searched by bill/act number, sponsor or via full text.

BILLS

Bills currently pending in the South Carolina legislature (House & Senate)are available in print and electronic formats.

Bills can be searched by key word, sponsor, bill number, committee or subject.

REGULATIONS

Regulations promulgated by South Carolina’s administrative agencies are published in an appendix to the Code of Laws of South Carolina 1976.

In addition to print, the regulations are published in electronic format in WestlawNext, Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance, and the South Carolina Legislature Online.

SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE ONLINE

BLOOMBERG LAW

LEXIS ADVANCE

WESTLAWNEXT

PROPOSED REGULATIONS: SOUTH CAROLINA REGISTER

STATE AGENCIES

THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH: THE GOVERNOR

SOUTH CAROLINA ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCY DECISIONS

Just as we discussed that federal agencies operated under both legislative and executive delegations of power and then behaved sometimes as quasi legislatures or quasi courts, the same is also true of South Carolina administrative agencies.

Administrative regulations fall under a grant of power from the legislative branch while administrative court decisions and appeals fall under a grant of power from the executive branch.

SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS

SECONDARY SOURCES

Check out the encyclopedia, South Carolina Jurisprudence, available in print, and online in Westlaw.

Law reviews and periodicals published in South Carolina include: Charleston Law Review South Carolina Journal of International Law & Business South Carolina Law Review South Carolina Lawyer

CONCLUSION

South Carolina has primary and secondary sources of law available in print, micro and electronic formats.

Finding aids, indexes, and encyclopedias exist to help researchers locate materials on their topic.

As with all things legal, don’t forget to update. You can use South Carolina citators on either Lexis Advance (Shepard’s) or WestlawNext (KeyCite.) Bloomberg Law has Bcite but it is not yet a comprehensive citator system.