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Learn about Federal and State cases and the reporter system, including U.S. Supreme Court cases and Federal Reporters. Discover the importance of State Court cases and proper citation forms for cases. Enhance your legal research skills now!
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Law 11 Federal and State Cases and the Reporter System
My Website • www.elcamino.edu/faculty/vtpham/
U.S. Supreme Court Cases • Available through: • United States Reports (official edition) • Supreme Court Reporter (West) • United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition (LexisNexis) • Other looseleaf reporters and electronic services
Federal Reporters • Collects the opinions of the Federal Courts of Appeals
Supreme Court Reporter • Published by West Group • Includes full opinion • Adds editorial features • Syllabus • Headnotes • Topics • Key Numbers
New Court Opinions • Initially issued separately as slip opinions • Includes syllabus, summary of facts • Subject to correction by the Court prior to publication in the Reports • Slip opinions compiled and published in advance sheets
Electronic Access • Westlaw and LexisNexis both publish court opinions electronically • Star Pagination is added so that users can locate where the exact pages of the reporters appear on the screen
State Court Cases • Official Reports are case reporters sanctioned by statutes • Unofficial Reports are private publications of cases that are not legislatively endorsed.
State Reporters • California Reports • Official publication for cases decided in the CA Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal • Now in 4th Series • California Reporter • Unofficial reporter published by West Group • 3rd Series
National Reporter System • Published by West Group • Contains cases of • State courts • Federal courts • Special courts • Groups together cases from several adjacent states • North Western Reporter • Pacific • North Eastern • Atlantic • South Western • Southern • South Eastern
National Reporter System • Includes • Headnotes with key numbers • Synopsis • Digest containing the key numbered headnotes • Table of Cases • Table of Statutes • List of Words and Phrases defined in cases reported • Advance Sheets are also published
Parallel Citations • Because cases can appear in more than one Report or Reporter, there may be several citations that refer to the same case. These are parallel citations. • There are different ways of finding parallel citations: • National Reporter Blue Book • Shepard’s Citations • KeyCite (Westlaw) or Auto-Cite, LEXSEE or Shepard’s (Lexis) • Table of Cases (in state or regional digest)
Citation Form for Cases (Rule 10.2; B5.1.1) • Don’t use large and small capital letters as dictated by The Bluebook. • Case names may be underscored or italicized. • When underscoring, underscore the entire case name using a solid unbroken line, including the “v.” (B5.1.1) and any procedural phrase such as “In re.” • The “v.” in a case citation is always a lowercase letter followed by a period. • Give last names only of the parties in the case, but always reproduce the entire business name even if its name includes a person’s name.
Citation Form for Cases (Rule 10.2; B5.1.1) • If there are multiple plaintiffs and defendants, list only the first plaintiff and the first defendant. Don’t indicate that there are multiple parties by using an expression such as “et al.” • Do not identify the status of a party by including a term such as “plaintiff,” “trustee,” or “executor.” • If court rules require parallel citations, you must give them the official citation first, followed by the unofficial citations(s)