How to Find Cases, Statutes, and Articles

Throughout this course, we will be discussing laws and court cases. There are a variety of ways to find these documents online. Understanding the citation method used in legal research is vital for finding this information. You've probably used a citation style when writing a research paper or even in a business report. The purpose of a citation is to help the reader find the source of information that was used. Legal citation uses a very specific style which looks confusing but is actually straightforward. Court cases are published in journals called reporters. For example, United States Reports publishes all U.S. Supreme Court cases. Just like magazines, the cases are grouped by volume number. For example, Volume 1 of Time magazine was published in 1923, with a new issue published each week. With legal citation, the volume number is placed before the abbreviated title of the reporter, and the first page of the case is listed after the abbreviated title. For example, later in this lesson, you will read the case of Valentine v. Chrestensen. The case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1942. The opinion was published in United States Reports, Volume 316, beginning on page 52. If you went to the library, you would find a huge shelf with all of the volumes of United States Reports. If you pull Volume 316 off the shelf and open that volume to page 52, you will see the Valentine v. Christensen opinion. The opinion will then go on for many pages (it ends on page 55). The citation would look like Figure 1.4.

The format of the citation follows a pattern:

1. Names of the two parties: This case was a dispute between Lewis Valentine, the Police Commissioner of New York City, and F. J. Chrestensen, the owner of a submarine. A lower court (Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) had ruled in favor of Chrestensen. Valentine appealed, asking the Supreme Court to reverse the decision. Since Valentine is the party that is appealing, his name comes first.
2. Volume number: In this example the volume number is 316. Most citation styles (APA, MLA, etc.) put the volume number after the title of the publication (New York Times, Vol. 86 or Rolling Stone, Vol. 23, etc.) for other types of publications. For court cases and law review articles, the volume number comes before the title of the publication.
3. Abbreviated title of the publication: U.S. is the abbreviation for United States Reports, one of the reporters that publishes Supreme Court cases (just like you might abbreviate the New York Times as NY Times).
4. Beginning page number: For this example, the particular case or article is 52. Note that only the first page of the case is listed in the basic citation. However, if you were referring to a particular section of the case, you would include that page number too—for example: 316 U.S. 52, 54. This tells the reader that the court opinion begins on page 52, but that the part of the opinion you are discussing can be found on page 54. Legal citations are very precise because judges and lawyers must be able to see the specific part of the precedent they are considering.
5. Year the case was decided: The last information provided is the year the case was decided (1942).

As you read cases, you'll start to get used to the citation style. At first it's very confusing to see all these random numbers and abbreviated titles, but they all refer to a specific part of a specific case or specific sections of a statute or law. Sometimes the same case is published in multiple reporters, just as the same Associated Press newspaper article might be published in multiple newspapers. You may then see a long string of citations, telling you the volume and page number where the case can be found in multiple reporters. Imagine citing an AP News story and including the citation for the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Orlando Sentinel. All three citations are referring to the same story, but it's published in a different volume and different page number for each publication.

Court Levels

Throughout this course, we'll spend a lot of time reading federal court cases. Each level (district courts, circuit courts, U.S. Supreme Court) has its own reporter. Thus, the citation for each case provides clues to where the case fits within the hierarchy of courts. Remember that Supreme Court decisions are binding on all lower courts, whereas Circuit Court of Appeals decisions are binding only on courts within that circuit. District court opinions are not binding but may be influential. Once a reporter publishes 999 volumes, it starts a new series (2d, 3d, 4th, etc.). Table 1.1. provides the names and abbreviations of all the reporters in the U.S. legal system.

Table 1.1. Courts and Reporters

Federal Court	Reporters (with abbreviations)
Supreme Court	United States Reports (U.S.) Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyer’s Edition (L.E. and L.E. 2d)
Circuit Court of Appeals	Federal Reporter (F. and F.2d and F.3d)
District Court	Federal Supplement (F. Supp. and F. Supp. 2d and F. Supp. 3d)

 

So when you see U.S. or S. Ct. in the citation, you know it's a Supreme Court case. When you see F. or F.2d or F.3d, you know it is a Circuit Court of Appeals case (with the specific circuit in parentheses), and when you see F. Supp. or F. Supp. 2d or F. Supp. 3d, you know it is a district court case.