Chapter Four

Finding the Law: Legal Research    Finding the Law: Legal Research   

Primary Sources

Constitutions

Statutes

Case Law

Ordinances

Secondary Sources

DictionariesEncyclopedias

Form Books

Periodicals

Treatises

Digests

Facts and IssuesA factual situation must exist before a legal issue can be identified

The facts come first

The facts help define the legal issue

The legal issue is ultimately decided by the court ( if the case does not settle)

Law is applied to the facts

Factual Categories

Relevant Facts

Explanatory Facts

Unnecessary Facts

How to Sort the Facts

A fact is relevant if the fact pattern changes substantially when the fact is removed or changed

A fact is explanatory if it simply helps the researcher what actually happened

A fact is unnecessary if when removed it does not alter the fact pattern

What is Case Law?

An opinion is a reported case written by a judge.

Once a dispute has been presented to the Court, the judge writes an opinion explaining the reasoning of the Court

Federal Case Law

United States Reports

Supreme Court Reporter

Lawyer’s Edition

• Federal Reports• Federal Supplement• Specialty Reporters

How to Read a Case Citation

Miranda v. Arizona,case name

384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966)

official citation parallel citations year

384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966)

official citation parallel citations year

State Case Law

Official Reporters

Regional Reporters

Unofficial Reporters

What is Statutory Law?

Federal Statutes are found in the U.S.C., U.S.C.S and the U.S.C.A.

State Statutes are also found in annotated and unannotated format.

Statutes, often referred to as Codes, are laws enacted by the legislature.