1. Finding Journal Articles
Friday, February 13, 2004
U.S. Legal Research
Presented by:
Shikha Sharma
Presented by: Shikha Sharma, Instruction Librarian, Drake Memorial Library, SUNY College at Brockport

2. Primary and Secondary Sources of Law
Primary Sources
Statutes
Regulations
Cases
Secondary Sources
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Law Review Articles
Treatises

3. Vocabulary
Decision = Judgment = Opinion
Law = Act = Statute

4. Jurisdiction
Federal: agriculture, bankruptcy, immigration, certain crimes (such as drug trafficking across states), customs, copyright, patents, postal service, social security, and trademark
State: child custody, divorce, wills, crimes (in most cases), landlord-tenant, real estate, motor vehicles
Both State & Federal: consumer protection, taxation, employment, environmental protection, health law, labor law, transportation, subsidized housing, veterans’ benefits and welfare law

5. Where to Start? Dictionaries Encyclopedias: Black’s Law Dictionary
(7th ed.)
Encyclopedias:
American Jurisprudence, 2d

6. U.S. Court System Federal State Court of Last Resort
U.S. Supreme Court
CT Supreme Court
Intermediate Appellate Court
U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal (CT is in the 2nd circuit)
CT Appellate Court
Trial Court
U.S. District Court
CT Superior Court

7. How are Cases Published
Federal cases:
Court
Name of the Reporter and its Abbreviation
U.S. District Courts
Federal Supplement
(F. Supp., F.Supp.2d)
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal
Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d)
U.S. Supreme Court
United States Reports (U.S.) – official version.
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition (L.Ed., L.Ed.2d)
Supreme Court Reporter (S.Ct.)

8. How are the Cases Published
State Cases are published in official state reporters and in commercial “regional reporters”.
Connecticut court cases are published in:
Court
Name of the Reporter and its Abbreviation
Connecticut Supreme Court
Connecticut Reports (Conn.) – official reporter
Atlantic Reporter (A., A.2d)
Connecticut Appellate Court
Connecticut Appellate Reports (Conn. App.) – official reporter
Connecticut Superior Court
Connecticut Supplement (Conn.Supp.) – official reporter

9. How to Read a Case Citation
Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 105 S.Ct. 2479, 86 L.Ed. 2d 29 (1985)
Starting Page Number
of the decision
Vol. No.
Names of the Parties
Name of the
Law Report
Parallel citations

10. How are Laws Made At both State and Federal levels:
Statutes are first introduced as “bills” in a session of Congress (proposed legislation).
Committee hearings may be held and amendments to the bill may be made.
To become law, the bill should then be passed in identical form by both houses of the Congress and signed by the President, or passed over his veto.
Once a bill becomes law, it is referred to as a session law or a public law.

11. How are Laws Published
At both the federal and state level, statutes are published in three different formats in the following order:
Slip Law: This is the first version of an enacted statute and is issued by itself on a single sheet or as a pamphlet.
Session Laws: All laws passed in a given session are then published chronologically in bound volumes referred to as the session laws.
Examples: U.S. Statutes at Large
Connecticut Public and Special Acts (state)

12. Chronologically Arranged Session Laws may..
Affect an existing statute by:
adding a section
changing language of a section
repealing a section
re-numbering a section
doing all of the above

13. To Find a Current Version of a Statute use…
Code: All public laws are then arranged by subject and published in a set of books known as a code. The purpose of codification is to:
bring all laws on the same topic together
eliminate all repealed or expired statutes
unite amendments with the original statute
Examples: The United States Code (USC) – official version
The United States Code Annotated (USCA)– published by West
The United States Code Service (USCS) – published by Lexis
General Statutes of Connecticut – official version
Connecticut General Statutes Annotated – published by West
As each new law is passed, the relevant sections of the code are modified and updated, both in the printed codes and in the online databases.

14. United States Code is organized in broad subject categories
The Legislative Process
United States Code
is organized in broad
subject categories
called titles. The 50
titles are in rough
alphabetical order.

15. Sample Statutory Citations
Sessional Laws:
Federal:
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, P.L ,117 Stat 2699 (2003)
Connecticut:
PA , Conn. Acts
U.S. Statutes at Large, vol. 117, page 2699
Public Law, 108th Congress, law # 187
Connecticut Public and Special Acts, 1998; Public Act #110

16. Sample Statutory Citations
Codified Laws:
Federal:
17 U.S.C. § 104
17 U.S.C.A. § 104 (a)
Connecticut:
Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 21a-190b
United States Code, Title 17, section 104
United States Code Annotated, Title 17, section 104, subsection a
Connecticut General Statutes Annotated, Title 21a, Section 190, paragraph b

17. Regulations What are Regulations?
Are also called administrative rules and are a form of delegated legislation
Are promulgated by Executive Agencies
Provide detailed instructions on how to comply with a statute

18. How are Regulations Published?
Like statutes, regulations are published both chronologically and topically.
Federal Regulations are published in:
Federal Register in chronological order
Code of Federal Regulations arranged by subject titles
Connecticut Regulations are published in:
Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies (a loose-leaf service that is constantly updated)

19. Regulation Citation Form
Federal Register:
44 Fed. Reg (May 18, 1979)
Code of Federal Regulations
42 C.F.R. § (1991)
Federal Register, vol. 44, page 29375
Publication date
Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section