Chapter 1 Resources: filename: ResearchandTerminology.doc

BASIC RESEARCH TERMINOLOGY
Advance Sheet / A paper pamphlet containing the most recently decided cases in the jurisdiction
Annotation / A note, description, commentary, or criticism of a particular case or statute See, e.g., the United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) or the American Law Reports (ALRs).
Bluebook / A reference to the most current edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation
Brief
- Appellate Brief
- Case Brief / A document prepared in support or defense of an appeal. Each state establishes its own rules for format, but all customarily include: Cover sheet; table of contents; table of authorities (all cases, statutes, rules, etc. referenced); statement of issues (the questions of law presented in the appeal); statement of facts; argument (applies the law to the facts and issues in the case and may argue for a change in the law); and conclusion (summarizes the high points of the argument and states the desired outcome).
Analysis of a court opinion in terms of its most essential elements. Formats may vary but customarily include: citation, legal history, statement of facts, legal issues in dispute, court’s reasoning, and holding (the court’s decision with respect to the legal issues in dispute)
Case of First
Impression / A case involving an issue being addressed for the first time in a given jurisdiction
Citation / The “address” of a particular case, statute, article, etc., indicating where the item can be located, e.g. in which legal publication (reporter, code, or journal)
Code / The body of statutes written by legislatures (state and federal) generally organized by subject matter
Concurring Opinion / An opinion of one or more judges who agree with the outcome of a case but who want to explain their reasoning as it differs in some respect from that expressed in the majority opinion (in other words, the same conclusion is reached but for different reasons)
Court Opinion / A court’s written explanation for reaching a particular decision that may include both concurring and dissenting opinions
Decision / A ruling, order or judgment of a court disposing of a case after consideration of the applicable facts and law
Dicta / Remarks of a court in an opinion that are not essential to the decision
Digest / A collection of brief summaries (annotations) of reported cases arranged by subject matter in alphabetical order and subdivided by jurisdiction; there are state digests, regional digests, and a national digest (the American Digest System).
Discovery / The process by which parties engaged in litigation seek information and materials known by and available to other parties and potential witnesses in an action; It includes both informal methods, such as searching public records and formal methods including interrogatories, depositions, and requests for production, admissions, and physical and mental examinations.
Dissent / An explanation of the position of one or more judges who disagree with the holding of a majority of the judges in a given case
Holding / A legal principle essential to a court’s determination of a legal matter (e.g. “the court held that the statute violates the parties’ fundamental rights to privacy under the constitution.” The court’s “decision” is that the statute is unconstitutional, the “holding” states it is unconstitutional because it violates the right to privacy.)
Legal Encyclopedia / A multivolume set of books that address virtually every major legal topic arranged alphabetically. The two national encyclopedias are American Jurisprudence, 2d and Corpus Juris Secundum. Some states have their own legal encyclopedias.
Majority Opinion / An opinion of more than half the judges considering a particular case
Memorandum
-Internal Memorandum
-Legal Memorandum/
Memorandum of Law
-Pretrial Memorandum / A memorandum intended for someone within the firm addressing a particular need or issue
A memorandum to the court written in support of a motion describing the legal issue, detailing the law the attorney believes is applicable to the issue given the facts of the case, and requesting a particular ruling by the court.
A memorandum prepared in advance of trial for the court’s consideration and convenience. Formats vary somewhat by state but usually include: history of the case; statement of facts; identification of contested and uncontested issues; client’s proposal for resolution of disputed issues (such as custody, property division, or support); a discussion of the law as it applies to the contested issues; and conclusion (summarizes the high points of the argument and states the desired outcome).
Motion / A written or oral request that a court make a particular ruling or order
Online Database / A source of legal data available online through websites, such as (many with links to state laws), and commercial online databases accessible for a fee (e.g. Lexis-Nexis, Loislaw and WESTLAW). Appendix D contains an extensive list of useful sites, some of which are highlighted in individual chapters of this text
On Point / An adjective used to describe a case in which key facts of a case and the client’s case are sufficiently similar that the legal principle applied by the court in the earlier case may be applicable in the client’s case.7
Opinion / A court’s written statement of its decision in a case, usually including a summary of the facts and legal history of the case, applicable points of law, rationale for the decision, and dicta.8
Pleading / A document in which a party to a legal proceeding sets forth or responds to a claim, allegation, defense, or denial
Pocket Part / A paper supplement to a hard bound volume that literally fits into a pocket at the back of a volume
Practice Manual / A volume or set of volumes covering the law and procedures in a particular area of practice, including court rules, forms, and directions organized by area of substantive law (e.g. family law, criminal law, probate law, etc.)
Precedent / A higher court’s decision regarding a question of law that provides a basis for determining later cases that involve similar facts or issues in a given jurisdiction
Primary Authority / Authority created by a governmental body such as a legislature or court – includes statutes, constitutions, and case law.
Procedural law / Technical rules for bringing and defending actions before a court or administrative agency, e.g. the steps to be followed in seeking child support. Rules are set forth in a variety of state and federal sources governing various types of practice (e.g. state and federal rules of civil procedure, state and federal rules of criminal procedure, rules of domestic relations procedure, etc.). A family law case may require reference to several sets of rules in addition to domestic relations rules (rules of evidence, probate rules, etc.).
Reporter / Hard bound published volumes containing full decisions of a particular court (e.g. United States Supreme Court) or courts arranged in chronological order. There are state reporters (covering courts in individual states, usually including only decisions of higher and not trial courts), regional reporters (covering a number of states in a particular geographical area of the United States e.g. the Northeast or Southwest), and reporters for all federal appellate and Supreme Court cases (e.g. U.S. Reports). Each volume may contain a hard bound supplement and a pocket part.
Secondary Authority / Publications that explain but do not establish law including, for example, treatises, annotations and law review articles
Shepherdizing / A term derived from a series of books known as Shepherd’s Citations, Sheperdizing is the process of tracking the subsequent history of a case to determine if it has been overruled, reversed, explained, affirmed, or distinguished in the judicial opinions of subsequent cases
Stare decisis / The doctrine that requires a lower court to follow the precedent of a higher court in its jurisdiction (e.g. application of earlier case law to current cases)
Substantive Law / Laws that relate to rights and obligations/duties (e.g. the right to child support) rather than technical procedures
Template / The basic model or format of a document with blanks to be filled in
Treatise / Overview of a particular legal topic, such as family law (e.g. Homer H. Clark’s The Law of Domestic Relations in the United States)
Words and Phrases / A multivolume legal dictionary deriving definitions primarily from court opinions