What is the difference between a digest and a legal reporter

A particular point of law can be traced through different law books by following the cases listed under a Key Number in each series.

What is the purpose of a digest? The main purpose of a digest is to make the contents of reports available and to separate, from the great mass of caselaw, those cases bearing on some specific point. The American Digest System covers the decisions of all American courts of last resort, state and federal, from to present.

What is a reporter in law? Law reports or reporters are series of books that contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. When a particular judicial opinion is referenced, the law report series in which the opinion is printed will determine the case citation format.

What is a headnote in case law? Headnotes are summaries of the issues in a case. They are not actually part of the opinion. Each headnote is numbered. Headnotes in a West reporter address a specific point of law in the case, including the relevant facts regarding that point of law. What does the word digest? When your stomach breaks down food, it digests it. To digest is to process food so it can be absorbed into the body or information so the mind can absorb it.

As a noun, a digest is a magazine that breaks down information into understandable summaries. Most annotated codes are statutory. There are very few annotated regulatory codes. Bluebook: The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is published by the Harvard Law Review and other leading law reviews and sets forth abbreviations and rules of citation for legal materials.

It is the accepted standard in law school writing but not necessarily followed by courts or attorneys who may be required to follow local rules. Case: This is one of those terms that has several meanings. Technically, a case is a dispute between two or more parties. Thus your casebook for a class is a collection of opinions. Case, judgment, ruling, opinion, and decision are often used interchangeably. Citation: The reference which helps you identify a particular case, law review article, book, statute or other resource, whether primary or secondary.

For example, the citation for Roe v. Wade is US The case appears in volume of the official United States Reports beginning at page The opinion was rendered in See also parallel citation. The Bluebook will provide you with the rules on proper citation format. CFR - Code of Federal Regulations, the codified subject arrangement of current regulations issued by agencies of the executive branch of the federal government.

F, F2d, and F3d - Federal Reporter, first second and third series. This is the reporter for opinions of the federal courts of appeals. Not all opinions are published. Most opinions of the district courts are not published. Cite: Short for citation.

Civil: Everything that is not criminal. Civil cases involve disputes not arising out of violation of criminal statutes. This will make more sense and get more complicated later. Don't worry. Code: A systematic subject compilation of laws which may be statutory or regulatory.

Statutes and regulations are initially published chronologically, as they are enacted. The code pulls together all the statutes or regulations on a particular subject such as the California Penal Code or Title 26 of the United States Code which is on taxation. Without codification, you would have to look through multiple volumes published over many years to find all the federal tax laws. Note that when people ask "What does the code say," they are generally referring to a statutory code.

Lower case "court" refers to all other courts. When naming a specific court, such as the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the word court is capitalized. Provo, UT How to Read a Legal Citation. Basic Legal Research Materials. Self-Help Materials. Digests: An Index to Case Law. Introduction to Shepard's Citators. Statutory Law: Federal. Introduction to Legal Forms. Secondary Sources.

Statutory Law: State Codes. Locating Federal Materials on the Internet. Not all information in your coursepack is in this guide. In particular, some online legal services contain proprietary information which cannot be displayed on this Libguide. Some information may not be presented in the exact same order as it is in your coursepack. Credits: The content in this guide is derived from the work of Professor Therese Clarke Arado, who has written and updated the print Basic Legal Research coursepacks for each semester for many years.