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Chapter 8: RESEARCH MATERIALS IN THE UNITED STATES

A.

CASE LAW

1.

Federal Courts Decisions

a.

Decisions of the Supreme Court

The decisions of the United States Supreme Court are reported in the following

publications: United States Reports(Official Edition); and unofficially in the Supreme

Court Reporter by West Publishing Company, and United States Supreme Court Reports,

Lawyerss Edition by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing.

b.

Decisions of the Court of Appeals

The appellate courts are divided geographically into twelve circuits, plus the U.S.

Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit. Their decisions are reported in the

Federal Reporter (West Publishing Co.)

c.

Decisions of the District Courts

The general trial courts in the US federal system and there are ninety four

districts with one or more in each State. Their decisions are reported in the

Federal Supplement (West).

d.

Decision of Special Federal Courts

They likewise publish their decisions such as the Reports of the United States

Tax Court and Cases Decided in the United States Court of Claims. West

Publishing also publishes the decisions of some special courts such as the

Bankruptcy Reporter and the Veterans Appeals Reporter.

e.

Computerized Legal Research Services

WESTLAW of West Publishing Company and LEXIS of Mead Data Central, Inc.,provide computerized access to the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, Court

of Appeals, District Courts, and specialized federal courts.

2.

State Courts Decisions

The different states of the United States publish official reports of their courts

decisions, specially the decisions of their Supreme Court. In New York where their

highest court is call the New York Court of Appeals, the New York Reports report the

decisions of said Court.

The National Reporter System, published by West Publishing , divides the country into

seven regions and reports the decisions of the appellate courts of the different states ineach region together in one series of volumes

B.

STATUTORY LAW

1.

Federal Level

a.

Federal Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America, published by the Library of

Congress contains each article, section and clause of the Constitution and its

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amendments. Digests of federal courts cases interpreting the Constitution are

contained in the U.S. Supreme Court Digest of West and the Digest of United

States Supreme Court Reports of Lawyers Cooperative.

Discussions on constitutional issues may be contained in the Annotations in the

A.L.R. Federal, U.S. Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers Edition.

b.

Federal Statutes

The laws, both public and private, passed by the U.S. Congress are first

published as slip laws, the first official text of the new law, by the government

and by commercial publishers. These laws are cumulated in bound volumes as

the official Statutes at Large for the session.

The United States Code which arranges the public laws by subject into forty-

eight titles, is the official subject compilation of federal status. Twenty-two titles

have been reenacted as positive law, becoming their authoritative text. The

remaining titles are merely prima facie evidence of the law as the Statutes at

Large remains the authoritative source for them.

c.

Federal Administrative Regulations

The annual United States Government Manual provides the structure and

functions of the executive branch and federal agencies of the United States.

Administrative regulations to have general legal effect must be published in the

Federal Register.

The Code of Federal Regualations contains the executive and administrative

regulations as taken from the Federal Register and arranged by subject in fifty

titles, mainly carrying the U.S. Code titles to which they relate.

d.

Federal Administrative Decisions

Federal agencies, with quasi-judicial powers, render decisions which are

published. An example is the CCH Trade Regulation Reporter which contains the

decisions of the Federal Trade Commission

e. Executive Documents

The Federal Register, as earlier mentioned, contains executive orders and

proclamations of the President. The USSCAN and USCS Advance also include them. The

Presidential messages to Congress are published in the Congressional Record. ExecutiveAgreements are published in the official U.S. Treaties and Other International

Agreements.

2.

STATE LEVEL

1.

State Constitutions

The State Constitutional Committees, Commission and Amendments, a microfiche

collection of the Congressional Information Service, is a comprehensive source of

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documents for the fifty states. It is published in the Constitutions of the United States:

National and State, by Columbia University.

2.

State Statutes

Each state has a publication of the laws enacted by its legislature, such as Statues of

California and Acts of Alabama

3.

State and Local Administrative Laws, Regulations and Decisions

The Book of the States by the Council of State Governments, provides basic information

on government operations in each of the fifty states. State agencies with quasi-judicial

powers, render decisions which are also published in official form. In the municipal or

local level, administrative regulations and decisions are rarely published.