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Researching South Carolina LawNational Business Institute
Lisa Smith-Butler
February 2014
Primary Sources
As with everything that we’ve reviewed this
semester, South Carolina has 3 primary
sources of law.
•cases;•legislati
on; and•regulati
ons.
They are:
Cases•officially in the
South Carolina Reports; and
•unofficially in the South Eastern Reporter, 1st or 2nd series.
Decisions from the South Carolina Supreme Court and the South
Carolina Court of Appeals are
published in the following print
sources:
South Carolina Advance Sheets
Locating South Carolina State Cases?
Again, use:• citation;• party name; or • subject searching.
If you are subject searching in print, there is both a South Carolina Digest and a South
Eastern Digest, 1st & 2nd Series.
Locating South Carolina Briefs
Briefs submitted to the South Carolina Supreme Court, from 1918 onwards, are collected in print format by the
South Carolina Supreme Court Library.
Briefs submitted to the South Carolina Court of Appeals are collected in print
format from 1983 onwards.
South Carolina Judicial Site
At this time, the South Carolina Judicial site does not post all briefs submitted to the South Carolina Supreme Court.
Instead, it publishes a Case of the Month.
Each case has briefs available in pdf format and there is streaming video of the oral argument of the case selected to be Case of the Month.
The Brief…
The Oral Argument…
Locating Federal South Carolina Cases
Federal court decisions, at the district court level, are decided in federal courts located in Charleston, Columbia, Florence and Greenville.
Decisions from these courts, when published, are published in the print National Reporter source known as the Federal Supplement series.
This resource is also available in electronic format in WestlawNext.
F. Supp. citations can also be used to obtain cases in electronic format in AdvanceLexis.
Federal Courts of Appeal
Decisions from South Carolina’s federal district courts can be appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in Richmond, VA.
South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia are states within the Fourth Circuit.
Decisions from the 4th Circuit, since 1932, are officially published in print in the Federal Reporter series. This is also available in electronic format in WestlawNext.
These decisions are also published electronically on AdvanceLexis.
To use a print resource to locate federal district and circuit court decisions, use the non-cumulating Federal Digest series. There are now five series, beginning coverage in 1754 and continuing to the present.
Fourth Circuit
From the Fourth Circuit
Decisions from the Fourth Circuit are then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. Supreme Court decisions are published in print (U.S. Reports, Supreme Court Reporter, Lawyer’s Edition: Supreme Court Reports) and on numerous web sites.
These decisions are also available on WestlawNext and AdvanceLexis.
Subject searching in print can be done with the cumulative (1754 to the present) Supreme Court Digest.
Locating Cases…
What are the parties’ name for the decision published at 309 S.C. 118?
Locate the 2010 South Carolina Court of Appeals decision involving Jennings v. Jennings. What is the official citation for this decision? What is the unofficial citation?
What are the names of the parties involved in the South Carolina Supreme Court decision involving the trial of a juvenile for the murder of his paternal grandparents? What is the official citation?
Locating a Case by Citation:395 S.C. 461 (2011.)
Locating a Case by Party Name: Segars Andrews v. South Carolina Judicial Merit
Locating a Case by Subject: Murder & Juvenile & Video & Gun
Court Rules: State
Legislation
As we saw with the federal system, constitutions,
session laws, codes, and municipal codes are
examples of legislation that exist at both the state and
federal levels.
South Carolina’s Constitution
Earlier Constitutions
South Carolina’s initial Constitution was enacted in 1776.
It has been revised and reissued several times, including the following years: 1778, 1790, 1861, 1865, 1868, 1895.
Older versions of the Constitution of South Carolina can be located in print and micro formats.
South Carolina Code
Legislation, enacted by the South Carolina legislature, is published in a subject, or code, arrangement of 63 titles known as the Code of Laws of South Carolina 1976 Annotated.
It can be searched via keyword/index, citation or popular name.
In addition to the print version, electronic versions are available on WestlawNext, AdvanceLexis and the South Carolina Legislature Online.
South Carolina Session LawsKnown as the Acts and Joint Resolutions of the General
Assembly of South Carolina, South Carolina’s session laws are a chronological arrangement of the laws passed by a
legislative session, i.e. the equivalent of the federal Statutes at Large.
This is available in print and electronic format on WestlawNext, AdvanceLexis, and the South Carolina Legislature Online. The South Carolina Legislature Online has session laws from
1975 to the present.
Online, the session laws can be searched by bill/act number, sponsor or via full text.
Bills
Bills currently pending in the South Carolina legislature (House & Senate)are available in print and electronic formats.
Bills can be searched by key word, sponsor, bill number, committee or subject.
Regulations
Regulations promulgated by South Carolina’s
administrative agencies are published in an appendix to the Code of Laws of South
Carolina 1976.
In addition to print, the regulations are published in
electronic format in WestlawNext, AdvanceLexis,
and the South Carolina Legislature Online
.
Proposed Regulations: South Carolina Register
Municipal Codes
The various codes and ordinances of South Carolina’s cities and counties are posted online at Municode.com available at http://www.municode.com/.
State Agencies
The Executive Branch: The Governor
South Carolina Administrative Agency Decisions
Just as we discussed that federal agencies operated under both legislative and executive delegations of power and then behaved sometimes as quasi legislatures or quasi courts, the same is also true of South Carolina administrative agencies.
Administrative regulations fall under a grant of power from the legislative branch while administrative court decisions and appeals fall under a grant of power from the executive branch.
South Carolina Attorney General Opinions
Secondary Sources
Check out the encyclopedia, South
Carolina Jurisprudence, available in print, and online in Westlaw.
Law reviews and periodicals published in South Carolina include:
• Charleston Law Review• South Carolina Journal of Inter
national Law & Business• South Carolina Law Review• South Carolina Lawyer
Conclusion
South Carolina has primary and secondary sources of law available in print, micro and electronic formats.
Finding aids, indexes, and encyclopedias exist to help researchers locate materials on their topic.
As with all things legal, don’t forget to update. You can use South Carolina citators on either AdvanceLexis (Shepard’s) or WestlawNext (KeyCite.)