Two of the most respected legal dictionaries are Black's Law Dictionary (Ref/KF/156/B53/1990) and Ballentine's Law Dictionary (Law Library) . These help define legal terms and give citations to important cases regarding the terms.

When using a legal book, read the table of contents first since it can be very helpful in locating information. Indexes tend to use broad terms with narrow terms only as subdivisions. Legal books are often updated with pocket parts. Check the pocket parts to be sure your information is still up-to-date.

One legal book you may find rather helpful for state law is Texas Criminal Law by Cliff Roberson, located at Ref/KFT/1761/Z9/R63/1996 in the Academic Library. It contains an excellent overview of criminal law in the state of Texas and it is simply written and easy to understand. Cases are cited and used to help explain the law. An index is included.

Legal journals are often called law reviews and are indexed in their own special legal indexes. The Index to Legal Periodicals and Current Law Index are two of the most well known. They are located on the Law Library Index Tables. Both index case names so they are very useful for finding articles dealing with specific cases.

There are also several guides to legal research that you may find helpful. Legal Research in a Nutshell (KF/240/C54/1985) is concise and helpful for the novice in legal research. Sometimes the APA Manual is not specific enough in dealing with legal citations. If this is the case, follow the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Reserve/ KF/245/B58).

Legal research requires that you be able to locate two kinds legal sources, primary and secondary. Primary sources of law are publications that present the law itself in its actual text. These include the chronological publications of law such as Statutes at Large, the Federal Register, and U.S. Reports. Primary sources also include sources of the law arranged by subject such as the U.S. Code, U.S. Code Annotated, and Code of Federal Regulations. Further explanation of these titles is given below under the headings "Statutory Law" and "Regulatory Law." Secondary sources of law are publications that describe, analyze, and summarize the applications of those laws. Legal encyclopedias, textbooks, journal articles, and dictionaries are examples of secondary sources.

A proclamation by the President does not carry the force of law and usually is ceremonial in nature. However, policy matters of significance have sometimes by declared in proclamations. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 is an example. Executive orders that have the force of law can be issued by the President and these deal with a wide range of subjects. Some are simple delegations of the presidential authority to other administrative offices but some are of landmark significance. For instance EO 11246(1965) was Lyndon Johnson’s requirement that federal government contractors adopt affirmative action programs and EO 9981 (1948) was Harry Truman’s order to integrate the armed services.

All executive orders are first published in the Federal Register and since 1965 they have also been compiled in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. All executive orders since March 13, 1936 are compiled in Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations along with other administrative regulations.

The United States has a complex legal system with each of the fifty states having its own separate court system composed of trial, intermediate appellate, and supreme courts. The federal court system is also composed of trial, intermediate appellate, and a Supreme Court. There are about 100 federal trial courts (called District Courts) and twelve federal intermediate appellate courts (Court of Appeal). Prior to 1948, the Courts of Appeal were known as Circuit Courts. In 1982, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was created that has nationwide original and appellate jurisdiction based on selected types of subject matter rather than geographic location. Both state and federal court systems have specialized courts of limited jurisdiction. At the state level examples are juvenile, probate, small claims, and traffic courts. At the federal level examples are international trade, military appeals, and tax courts.

Courts at the same level in either the federal or state court structure function similarly. Trial courts are where most criminal and civil cases begin. There are two parties to each trial court case: the plaintiff (person or government who brought the civil complaint) or prosecution (the government that brought the criminal charge) and the defendant (against whom the charge was brought). So in a case citation of Jones v. Smith, Jones is the plaintiff and Smith is the defendant. In U.S. v. Jones, U.S. is the prosecution and Jones is the defendant. For cases that involve only a single person, such as bankruptcy, guardianship, or probate cases, the case title takes the form In re Smith, meaning "in the matter of Smith". In trial courts, verdicts are handed down and sentences imposed.

Appellate courts exist in both state and federal court systems to hear appeals of trial court decisions. The title of an appellate court case lists first the name of the party appealing the adverse judgment of the lower court (called petitioner or appellant). This is followed by the name of the party against whom the appeal is taken, usually the winner in the lower court case, called the respondent or appellee. So if in a trial court case of U.S v. Jones, U.S. wins and Jones appeals, the appellate case would become Jones v. U.S. Appellate courts are usually limited to reviewing points of law rather than questions of fact or evidence. They try to assure that procedural rights were respected at the trial court level so they don’t decide between guilt or innocence of the defendant but rather whether to affirm or reverse the lower court. Sometimes the appellate court remands (returns) the case back to the lower court for retrial.

At both appellate and supreme court levels, courts usually accompany their decisions with written opinions. The opinion of the Court, or majority opinion, states the reasoning behind the majority of the justices and is usually signed by one member. A per curiam opinion is not signed by any member. Concurring opinions express the reasoning of justices who agree with the decision but on different grounds. Dissenting opinions are presented by justices who disagree with the decision and opinion of the court.

In all state court systems, there is a supreme court, or court of last resort, to give a final review to appeals. A writ of certiorari is an order from a higher court to a lower court requiring that the record of a case be sent up for review. Such a writ is granted by the Supreme Court when four or more justices agree. When a higher court denies a petition for a writ of certiorari, the lower court’s decision stands. State or federal supreme court decisions are binding on all lower courts and often involve constitutional or other statutory interpretations of broad impact.

Case law is first published chronologically in "reporters." These reporters are primary sources for the law. For the Supreme Court the reporter is the United States Reports. Unofficial or commercial reports for the Supreme Court include the United States Supreme Court Reports: Lawyers Edition and the Supreme Court Reporter. For lower federal courts important reporters include the Federal Reporter and the Federal Supplement. These are located in the Law Library. Decisions of the Supreme Court and many lower courts of appeal including some state courts can be searched online at this address: http://www.intbc.com/sleuth/lega-c.html. Supreme Court decisions can also be found at this address: http://www.law.cornell.edu:/supct/supct.table.html.

Secondary sources for Supreme Court decisions include digests, legal encyclopedias, and indexes. Digests summarize individual points for each case and arrange the summaries by subject in an alphabetical arrangement. Pocket parts keep the digests current. If you know only the name of the case you want, the case name index in a digest will enable you to locate other cases on the same topic as well as giving you the appropriate citation to the full case. Federal digests include: the U.S. Supreme Court Reports Digest: Lawyers Edition, the U.S. Supreme Court Digest, and West's Federal Practice Digest. These titles are located in the Law Library.

West Publishing has developed a system of researching court decisions called the "key number" system where every local topic is referred to by keywords and a certain number. Find your keywords and numbers in the digest of the Supreme Court Reporter or the reporter of the particular state. Every Reporter (Supreme Court Reporter, Federal Reporter, and state reporters) has a Digest of Cases. These digests have short paragraphs summarizing many case decisions. West’s General Digest (Law Library) contains all state and federal cases contained in the National Reporter System. Be sure to check the pocket parts in the back of each digest to find the very latest court decisions. Also check the advance sheets which are published as paperback supplements to the digests and reported decisions.

Shepard's is a company that publishes a series of citators and using these enables the researcher to determine if a specific case, statute, or regulation has been discussed, cited, overturned, repealed, or affirmed. This is called Shepardizing and even if you never have to actually do it, you should know what it means. Reading the introduction to a citator is the key to using it. They may seem very confusing at first. Check with a reference librarian if you need help.

Searching Tips for Finding the Law

If you know the popular name but not the citation and you want to find the text of the law, go to "Acts Cited by Popular Name" in the index of the US Code to get the full citation. If you are looking for a Supreme Court case, start with a legal encyclopedia such as American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) or Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS). For very current cases, check newspapers and magazine indexes for articles that may give the citation of the case.

If you want to find the law on a particular subject but don’t have a citation or popular name, begin with one of the legal encyclopedias (American Jurisprudence or Corpus Juris Secundum) and follow the citations given. For statutes, go to the subject index of the U.S. Code. For regulations, go to the subject index of the Code of Federal Regulations. For Supreme Court cases, start with a court digest (U.S. Supreme Court Reports Digest: Lawyers Edition, or U.S. Supreme Court Digest). For treaties, use the subject index of Treaties in Force. For executive orders, use the indexes to the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents or the Code of Federal Regulations. Follow whatever citation you get from the indexes to its appropriate text.

How to Brief a Case

The next issue to be dealt with is the legal question involved. Remember that this is a question of law, not of fact, and should deal with legal issues. Usually you are not looking at whether some particular offense was committed but on the legal problems surrounding the offense. Finally, include the Court’s decision and reasoning which should contain the answer to the legal question and the basis for the decision. Often an interpretation of statute or constitutional issue is involved. Include in your summary any concurring or dissenting opinions.