| A | B |
|---|
| adjudicate | To decide disputes between parties by applying the law to the facts of the dispute. |
| advance sheets | Soft cover booklets containing the most recent cases that are yet to be bound in books (reporters) |
| affirm | (1) what an appeals court does if it agrees with and confirms a lower court's decision (2) an act of declaring something to be true under the penalty of perjury by a person |
| annotations | Remarks, notes, case summaries, or commentaries following a statute or other authority that describe the interpretations of the statute or authority. |
| appeal | A proceeding brought to a higher court to review a lower court’s decision. |
| appellate court | A court hearing jurisdiction of appeal and review. |
| binding authority | Any source of law that a court must follow when deciding a case. See primary authority. |
| briefing a case | Summarizing a case. |
| case of first impression | A case presenting a legal issue that has not yet been addressed by a court in a particular jurisdiction. |
| case on point | A case involving factual circumstances and issues that are similar to those in the case being researched. |
| case on "all fours" | A case in which all four elements (the parties, the circumstances, the legal issues involved, and the remedies sought by the plaintiff) are very similar to those in the case being researched. |
| case law | Rules of law announced in court decisions. |
| citatory | A publication used to verify legal authorities and to locate additional, more recent cases. (Example: Shepardizing) |
| citation | A reference that indicates where a particular constitutional provision, statute, administrative rule, court rule, reported case or article can be found. |
| code | A systematic and topically organized presentation of laws, rules, or regulations. |
| codification | Process of collecting and arranging the laws (federal, county, or state) into a code. |
| common law | Law that has evolved from earlier decisions of courts; law based on precedent; case law. The legal system prevailing in English-speaking countries, originated in England, and its form of development was different from that of civil law or code law. |
| constitutional law | Law set forth in the Constitution of the United States and in state constitutions. |
| court rules | Regulations with the force of law governing practice and procedure in the various courts. Procedures and requirements adopted by all individual courts that must be followed when filing legal pleadings |
| decision | The opinion of the court. |
| dicta | A Latin term referring to nonbinding judicial statements that are not directly related to the facts or issues presented in the case and thus not essential to the hyolding. |
| digest | A detailed index by subject and topics on points of law covered by reported cases using West’s key number system. A compilation in which brief summaries of court cases are arranged by subject and subdivided by jurisdiction and court. |
| headnotes | Brief statements of fact and the rule or law applied to those facts that comes before the printed opinion in an unofficial reporter. A tool for helping legal researchers find the point of law they wish to research. |
| holding | The binding legal principle, or precedent, that is drawn from the court's decision in a case. |
| hornbook | A single-volue scholarly discussion, or treatise, on a particular legal subject. |
| jurisdiction | (1) The power of a court to hear and try a case. (2) The geographic area in which a court has power or the types of cases it has power to hear. |
| key number | A system of classification that divides law into more than 400 categories or topics. Cases published in West’s reporters are analyzed and categorized into topic(s) and given key numbers. |
| legal encyclopedias | Books that state principles of law supported by footnote references to pertinent cases throughout the United States. |
| loose-leaf service | Legal articles and information that brings together both secondary and primary materials in a specific area of law, such as immigration law, filed in loose leaf binders. Because the pages are in a binder, they can be easily updated on a frequent basis, e.g. weekly. |
| opinions | A judge's written explanation of a decision of the court or of a majority of judges. A dissenting opinion disagrees with the majority opinion because of the reasoning and/or the principles of law on which the decision is based. A concurring opinion agrees with the decision of the court but offers further comment. A per curiam opinion is an unsigned opinion "of the court." |
| order | Direction of a court or judge usually made in writing. |
| ordinances | The equivalent of a municipal statute, passed by the city council and governing matters not already covered by federal or state law. |
| overrule | A decision by a higher court finding that a lower court decision was in error. |
| parallel citation | The same case as reported in a different reporter. Example, a case can be reported in a state reporter and also in a regional reporter. |
| persuasive authority | Any legal authority, or source of law, that a court may look to for guidance but on which it need not rely in making its decision. Persuasive authorities include cases from other jurisdictions, discussions in legal periodicals, and so on. |
| plain meaning rule | A rule or statutory interpretation. If the meaning of a statute is clear on its face, then that is the interpretation the court will give to it. |
| pocket part | Supplements to law books in pamphlet form which are inserted in a pocket inside the back cover of the books to keep them current. |
| precedent | A court decision that furnishes an example or authority for deciding subsequent cases in which identical or similar facts are presented. |
| primary authority | The law itself. The sources are constitutions, codes, statutes, ordinances, and court decisions. |
| public policy | A governmental policy based on widely held societal values. |
| publish | To report a court opinion in an official reporter; some cases go through the appellate courts but are not published and cannot be used as primary authority. |
| remand | An action of an appellate court in sending back a case to the trial court. |
| reporters | Books which contain court decisions. |
| restatement | A publication setting out and explaining by practical examples the law in a particular field. |
| reverse | An action of a higher court in setting aside or revoking a lower court decision |
| rules of construction | The rules that control the judicial interpretation of statutes. |
| secondary authority | A writing setting out the opinion of the writer as to what the law is. Types include legal encyclopedias, treatises, legal texts, law review articles, restatements, essays, and case law from other jurisdictions. |
| Shepardizing | The act of using certain books called citators to find and ascertain the history and interpretation of a statute, regulation, or court decision. |
| slip opinion | A judicial opinion published shortly after the decision is made and not yet included in a case reporter or advance sheets. |
| standing | A concept requiring that a person actually suffer injury before being permitted to sue. |
| stare decisis | The doctrine requiring courts to stand by earlier court decisions when hearing cases with similar fact situations. |
| statutes | Acts of the state or federal legislatures. |
| statutory law | Law enacted by Congress, state legislatures, and local governments. |
| substantive law | The statutory or written law that governs rights and obligations of those who are subject to it as opposed to procedural law. |
| supremacy clause | The clause of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution that declares that all laws and treaties made by the federal government shall be the "supreme law of the land." |
| syllabus | A brief summary of the holding and legal principles involved in a reported case, which is followed by the court's offical opinion. Found before headnotes. |
| treatise | A book or writing prepared by a legal scholar or practice expert that covers a specific area of law. |
| treatment codes | Codes used in Shepardizing to describe how a later court regarded the first court's reasoning. Examples: a (affirmed by appeals court), j (dissenting), q (questioned), and o (overruled). |
| trial court | The court of original jurisdiction; the first court to consider litigation. |
| uniform laws | Uniform and model acts approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws which may be adopted in full or in part by states. Provides uniformity of laws throughout states. Examples: Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). |
| writ of certiorari | An order issued by the Supreme Court directing the lower court to transmit records for a case for which it will hear on appeal; an order by the appellate court which is used by that court when it has discretion on whether or not to hear an appeal from a lower court. |
| online services | WESTLAW and LEXIS are the two principal online sources for legal information. |
| law reviews | A type of article usually written by law students Law reviews provide analytical articles which discuss new developments and interpretations of in law. |
| Bluebook | A book containing guidelines setting forth abbreviations and rules of citation for legal materials. |
