PUBLIC SCHOOL LAW Part 16 : Primary Legal Sources—Judicial

JUDICIAL LAW SOURCES

How the Federal Court system is structured Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court of the United States U.S. Appellate Courts U.S. District Courts

Federal Judicial System Divided into 11 Appellate Circuits District Courts--Some states have more than one district, others have only one Geographic Boundaries of the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts Court Records Court Records The predominant type of record the Federal courts create and maintain is a case file, which contains a docket sheet and all documents filed in a case. There are different ways to obtain the information. Court Locator Court Locator Contains a map similar to the one in the next slide in which you can select the state that you wish to find federal courts by moving your pointer to that state, and by clicking on the state, you can obtain contact information for the federal court desired.

Federal Judicial System

How Court Cases are recorded Court cases are put into a publication called a reporter. A reporter is a chronological listing of all cases decided by a court As soon as a case is decided it is printed in a separate document called a slip opinion

Publishers of court cases The Government West Publishing Company

Example of case law published by the United States Government United States Reports Contains U.S. Supreme court cases Published by the Government Printing Office according to law. See 28 U. S. C. §411 As of Oct 2008, 546 volumes had been published.

United States Reports Online This site contains the United States Reports from Volume 1 (1754) to Volume 546 (2005)

West Publishing Company For more than a century, West has been a partner to the U.S. legal system, publishing case law in its reporter series and now publishing WESTLAW West Publishing Company is now a part of Thomson Reuters.

West’s Federal Reporter Series Supreme Court Reporter Federal Reporter Federal Supplement

Supreme Court Reporter This set is a Federal case law reporter series in West's® National Reporter System. This product covers opinions and decisions from 1882 to date issued by the United States Supreme Court. Cases published in this product series are enhanced with headnotes, Key Numbers, and Synopses prepared by West's internal staff of highly trained attorney editors. The Supreme Court Reporter and United States Reports both cover U.S. Supreme Court cases

Federal Reporter This set is a Federal case law reporter series in West's® National Reporter System. It covers opinions and decisions from 1880 to date in three series issued by the 13 circuits of the United States Court of Appeals. Federal Reporter 1st SeriesFederal Reporter 1st Series Federal Reporter 1st Series Federal Reporter 2nd SeriesFederal Reporter 2nd Series Federal Reporter 2nd Series Federal Reporter, 3rd SeriesFederal Reporter, 3rd Series (1993-present) Federal Reporter, 3rd Series Cases published in this product series are enhanced with headnotes, Key Numbers, and Synopses prepared by West's internal staff of highly trained attorney editors. The above links can be used if you have the citation to a case, no subject searching The above links can be used if you have the citation to a case, no subject searching

Federal Supplement This set is a federal case law reporter series in West's® National Reporter System. This product covers opinions and decisions from 1933 to 1998 issued by U.S. District Courts. Decisions issued by the U.S. Customs Court (now U.S. Court of International Trade) and Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation are also included. Cases published in this product series are enhanced with headnotes, Key Numbers and synopses prepared by West's internal staff of highly trained attorney editors.

How the State Court System is structured Trial courts (circuit, district, superior) Intermediate courts (most states, but some have no intermediate court) Supreme court

Publishers of state court cases West’s Regional Reports West also publishes what is known as offprint reporters that contain the decisions of a single state but with regional reporter pagination. This is the case with Oklahoma Decisions

Regional Reporters Atlantic Reporter-Atlantic Reporter-- Covers opinions and decisions issued by the states of Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersery, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Atlantic Reporter- North Eastern Reporter- -Covers opinions and decisions from 1936 to date issued by the state courts of Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio North Western Reporter- -Covers opinions and decisions from 1942 to date issued by the state courts of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Regional Reporters Pacific Reporter-- covers judicial cases of the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. South Eastern Reporter-- Covers opinions and decisions issued by the state courts of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Southern Reporter-Southern Reporter-- Covers opinions and decisions from 1941 to date issued by the state courts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Southern Reporter- South Western Reporter- -This product covers opinions and decisions issued by the state courts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

Oklahoma Case Law Oklahoma Decisions is published by West

Online Access to Oklahoma State Court Cases Oklahoma State Courts Network: Electronic Law Library Oklahoma State Courts Network: Electronic Law Library

Online Access to Texas State Court Cases Texas Courts Online Texas Courts Online

Online Access to State Court Cases Cornell University Law School: State Courts—By JurisdictionCornell University Law School: State Courts—By Jurisdiction (links to the state court websites) Cornell University Law School: State Courts—By Jurisdiction LexisOne: Free Case LawLexisOne: Free Case Law (last ten years of state and federal courts and US Supreme court) LexisOne: Free Case Law State Court Web Sites State Court Web Sites This page provides judicial branch links for each state, focusing on the administrative office of the courts, the court of last resort, any intermediate appellate courts, and each trial court level.

Hurray! You are done with Part 16: Primary Legal Sources-Judical.