Legal digests are used to research discrimination case law, listing court cases and opinions. Jurisprudence is made by judges and becomes precedents for other courts. Case reporters are numbered volumes of appellate court decisions, with opinions containing case captions, head notes, and relevant facts. Internet searches use specific keywords to find articles and summaries on legal issues.
Researching discrimination case law can be done using legal reference books called digests. The legal summaries are organized specifically for case law research and through them the opinions of the courts on which the case law is based can be found. While slightly different and resulting in fewer full court opinions, internet searches can lead to case summaries and other information in the area of discrimination case law.
In common law countries, jurisprudence derives from the written decisions of appellate courts deciding the legal questions referred to them. It is law made by a judge as opposed to statutory law created by a legislator, although case law sometimes involves interpreting the scope or meaning of a statute. The decisions of the appellate court then become “precedents” for other courts to follow. The collected volumes of these written decisions constitute the body of jurisprudence.
Jurisprudential research on discrimination is mainly done using legal digests. These are reference books organized by areas of the law and keywords and phrases. The general term is followed by the specific term. For example, “sex discrimination” is found under “discrimination.” Legal summaries also list court cases that reference the keyword, and below the case name is a brief summary of how the keyword relates to the decision in the case. Each case name is followed by a citation indicating the whistleblower where the decision, also called an opinion, can be found and read.
Case Reporters in the United States consist of numbered volumes of appellate court decisions for a particular state or region. A state reporter is the “official” reporter for a state, while regional reporters combine the decisions of several states within a region. For example, In the Matter of John Doe, 113 NM 111, 1 SW 1 (1901) indicates that the decision is found in volume 113 of the New Mexico Reporter on page 111, and that the same case is found in the Southwestern Reporter at the same way. Genuine case citations would look like the example above, and all state and federal reporters are organized this way.
Opinions begin with a case caption listing 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 opinion reports the medical history in the first instance and explains what the issues are on appeal. The relevant facts of the case follow. The court then applies the law to the facts and rules on the issues at stake.
Searching the Internet for discrimination case law also works on the principle of using specific keywords or phrases to find out what a case legally says or represents. For example, entering the search term “sex discrimination cases” would yield articles and factual summaries on sex discrimination cases. 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.
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