Legal Research: How to Find & Understand the Law

Table of Contents......Page 10
1 How to Use This Book......Page 14
2 An Overview of Legal Research......Page 16
B. How to Find (and Feel at Home in) a Law......Page 17
C. Legal Research on the Internet......Page 18
D. A Basic Approach to Legal Research......Page 19
E. Six Time-Saving Research Tips......Page 21
F. Understand the Legal Uncertainty Principle......Page 23
G. Know When You’re......Page 24
3 An Overview of the Law......Page 26
B. Foundations of American Law......Page 27
D. The Development of American Common Law......Page 28
F. About Going to Court......Page 29
4 Putting Your Questions Into Legal Categories......Page 40
A. The Land of the Law......Page 41
B. Find the Broad Legal Category for Your Problem......Page 42
C. Identify Specific Terms for Your Problem......Page 49
5 Getting Some Background Information......Page 58
A. How Background Resources Can Help......Page 59
C. Law Textbooks......Page 60
D. Legal Encyclopedias......Page 61
E. Form Books......Page 79
F. Practice Manuals......Page 82
G. Law Reviews and Other Legal Periodicals......Page 85
H. Specialized Loose-Leaf Materials......Page 90
I. Treatises and Monographs......Page 91
K. Background Resources on the Internet......Page 93
6 Constitutions, Statutes, Regulations and Ordinances......Page 100
A. Constitutional Research......Page 103
C. How to Find Statutes in the United States......Page 105
D. How to Find a Recent or Pending Federal Statute......Page 116
E. Finding Pending and Recent Federal Legislation on the Internet......Page 119
F. Finding Out-of-Date Federal Statutes in the Law Library......Page 122
G. Finding State Statutes in the Law Library and on the Internet......Page 123
H. Finding Recently Enacted or Pending State Statutes......Page 127
I. How to Read Statutes......Page 129
J. The Importance of Cases That Interpret Statutes......Page 133
K. Using Words and Phrases to Interpret Statutes......Page 135
L. Using Attorney General Opinions to Interpret Statutes......Page 136
M. Using Legislative History to Interpret Statutes......Page 137
N. Using Uniform Law Histories to Interpret Statutes......Page 141
O. Regulations......Page 142
P. Procedural Statutes and Rules......Page 149
7 Understanding Case Law......Page 154
A. What Is a Case?......Page 155
B. How Cases Affect Later Disputes......Page 166
8 How Cases Are Published......Page 172
A. Federal Cases......Page 173
C. Keeping Case Reporters Up-to-Date......Page 175
D. The Newest Cases......Page 177
E. Publishing Cases on the Internet......Page 178
9 Finding Cases......Page 180
A. Interpreting Case Citations......Page 181
B. How to Find Cases in the Law Library......Page 183
C. Finding State Case Law on the Internet......Page 196
E. Using VersusLaw to Research Federal and State Case Law......Page 199
F. The Next Step......Page 203
10 Shepard’s, Digests and the Internet: Expand and Update Your Research......Page 204
A. Shepard’s Citations for Cases......Page 205
B. The West Digest System......Page 219
C. Expanding and Updating on the Internet......Page 227
11 How to Write a Legal Memorandum......Page 230
B. How to Prepare a Legal Memorandum......Page 231
C. Sample Legal Memorandum......Page 232
12 The Legal Research Method: Examples......Page 236
B. Classify the Problem......Page 237
D. Use the Legal Index......Page 238
E. Get an Overview of Your Research Topic......Page 244
F. Use Shepard’s Citations for Cases......Page 248
G. Check the Pocket Parts......Page 252
H. Use Shepard’s and Digests to Find On-Point Cases......Page 254
I. Summary......Page 256
J. Constitutional......Page 258
13 Legal Research Online......Page 260
A. What’s Out There—And What Isn’t......Page 261
B. How Legal Materials Are Organized on the Internet......Page 262
C. Searching by Subject Matter Categories on the Internet......Page 263
D. Key Word Searching on the Internet......Page 264
E. An Online Search Strategy......Page 271
A Research Hypotheticals......Page 274
B Research Hypotheticals and Memoranda......Page 286
C Glossary of Legal Terms......Page 306
Index......Page 350
Related Products......Page 372