Secondary Sources PRINT AND ONLINE

COMMON SECONDARY SOURCES—ALL JURISDICTIONS  American Jurisprudence 2 nd  Corpus Juris Secundum  American Law Reports  A.L.R. Fed  Legal Treatises  Legal Periodicals and Law Reviews  Form Books and Practice Guides © 2000 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

Common California Secondary Sources Witkin Summary of California Law California Procedure California Evidence California Criminal Law Cumulative Index

Calif. Secondary Sources, cont. California Jurisprudence (Encyclopedia) C.E.B. Books and Action Guides Rutter Group Form Books Bender Forms of Pleading and Practice Bender Transaction Guide West Forms

Cont. Sample Jury Instructions Miscellaneous Treatise/Form Books Bell’s Miller & Starr Ballentine’s

RESEARCH CHECKLIST USING ENCYCLOPEDIAS  Review your research question and identify topics  Look up descriptive words in index and get cite to topic and section or  Go directly to the alphabetically arranged volume containing your general topic and review outline for specific topic section number  Read Article and make note of primary law from your jurisdiction  Check pocket part supplement for updates

RESEARCH CHECKLIST Using a Treatise  Identify legal topic  Check library card catalog  Check copyright date on treatise  Determine if treatise is supplemented

RESEARCH CHECKLIST Using Periodicals  Identify legal topic or author  Check Index to Legal Periodicals and/or Current Law Index  Locate periodical  Check current state of law

Law Reviews/Periodicals on the Net Find Legal Resources (databases) Google Scholar

Digests—Finding Tools “Index” to cases Topical organization of headnotes and reference to cases

WEST DIGEST SYSTEM The American Digest Centennial Digest Decennial Digest General Digest The U.S. Supreme Court Digest Federal Practice Digest Atlantic Digest North Western Digest Pacific Digest South Western Digest State Digests Specialty Digests

(Starting with a known case ) RESEARCH CHECKLIST Using Digests Identify headnotes relevant to your issue Note topic and number of those headnotes Find digest that corresponds to case reporter Locate topic and number in digest Note citations to other cases under topic and number Read other cases

Using Digests (Starting with issue or facts, but no known cases) Identify key words in facts and issues Locate key words in descriptive word index Identify proper topic and numbers from index Locate topic and number in digest Note case citations under topic and number Read cases

Using Practice Books/ Form Books Usually have a key word index Usually have table of contents

KEYCITE AND SHEPARDS CITATORS

Validating Research/Cite Checking Shepard’s (LEXIS LAW PUB.) AutoCite Key Cite (West)

Purpose of Validation (Cases) Make sure case is still good law Not overruled (new case) Not reversed (same case-different court) Determine how case is viewed by other courts Criticized, distinguished etc. Find other cases on same point Discussed, cited by, etc

Purpose of Validation (Codes) Make sure it has not been repealed Make sure that cases have not found it unconstitutional Find cases that have interpreted the code section

What You Find If you have an incorrect citation Parallel citations (for cases) History of Case (same case) Prior and subsequent Treatment of Case How other cases treat your case

Caution For cases, you should check all parallel cites

You Can Shepardize These Authorities CASE LAW STATUTORY LAW CONSTITUTIONS ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS SELECTED LAW REVIEWS AND A.L.R.’S COURT RULES APPROVED JURY INSTRUCTIONS

Shepardizing In Print Note citation to be Shepardized Locate all relevant Shepard’s volumes, including supplements and advance sheets Check “What your library should contain on cover of supplements Locate first appearance of your authority in Shepard’s Check your citation in all supplements and advance sheets Interpret or analyze your findings Review tables of abbreviations in front of books if necessary If Shepardizing case law, repeat process with all parallel cites Use Daily Update Service

Shepardizing Online Note citation to be Shepardized Access online service Access Shepard’s online Enter citation Use “Help” feature if necessary Analyze or interpret results Repeat process with parallel citations

Cite Checking Validating law Checking accuracy of citation (name, reporter etc.) Locating parallel citations Checking form of citation Checking accuracy of law (rarely)