Case law research involves using legal abstracts and case reporters to find court decisions organized by area of law and specific topics. Opinions include case caption, head notes, facts, and court decision. Internet searches can provide valuable insight but with fewer opinions. Law schools and legal organizations have web pages dedicated to legal issues with case histories and links to court opinions.
Doing case law research involves using “legal abstracts,” reference books that have a uniform system of “keywords,” legal arguments or phrases that list court decisions involving that keyword. The cases listed in the digest can be viewed in “case reporters,” collections of appellate court decisions organized into volumes by state and region. Cases in reporters will cite other cases dealing with the same subject of authority for their decisions. Similar searches can be done on the Internet, but with less access to court decisions.
In the United States and common law countries, basic case law research is the same. Legal summaries are organized by area of the law, such as criminal law, contracts, or negligence. Under each area of the law are several broad categories such as trials or appeals. Within these categories are specific topics. For example, the ‘right to legal aid’ can be found in the broader category of ‘criminal trials’.
The case lists will tell you how to find each case. For example, In the Matter of Jane Doe, 111 Ill. 221, 112 NE 112 (2001), indicates the case is a 2001 Illinois decision found in volume 111 of the Illinois Reports on page 221. The second citation refers to the Northeastern Reporter, a regional reporter who it publishes the decisions of the states within that region. Every case that In the Matter of Jane Doe relies on for her decision is cited in the same way, and every roundup of state reporters will be organized in the same way.
Opinions, which are a court’s decision in a case, begin with the case caption, which lists the parties, the case number, and the court that made the decision. There is also a brief summary of the case followed by ‘head notes’, which contain the keywords and a brief description of the principal lawyer associated with the keyword. The text of the opinion states the facts relevant to the decision of the case. The court then applies the law to the facts and pronounces a decision, its “settlement”, on the issues at stake.
Researching case law on the Internet is similar. Using specific keywords or phrases can provide valuable insight into specific court cases and legal principles. However, the results will differ from book searches in the number of opinions that can be found. Law schools and legal advocacy organizations often have web pages dedicated to particular legal issues. These sites sometimes contain a summary of the facts of a case, the legal issues involved, and comparisons with other court decisions.
For example, the case law search term “the right to legal aid” will lead to websites addressing this issue. Some of them are hosted by law schools and legal organizations and contain specific case histories, including facts and court cases. Sometimes these sites will contain links to the full text of the courts’ main opinions on a subject. These cases will in turn cite and sometimes explain other cases.
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