George H. Pike Director of the Barco Law Library University of Pittsburgh School of Law September 29, 2010

 Establishes our system(s) of government  Delegates governmental authority  Available online in a number of WebsitesWebsites  For day-to-day legal research, not that critical  Some issues that come up:  Civil rights and criminal rights violations  “Commerce clause” power  Free speech and association  “Full Faith and Credit”

 Two Constitutional systems that impact legal research  Federal and state governments and the delegation of authority between them by the Constitution  Three branches of government  3 branches common to organization of federal and state governments

 Legislative – Makes the law  Executive – Implements and enforces the law  Judicial – Interprets and applies the law All three branches generate legal information, “Primary Law”. Addressing a legal problem often involves reviewing information from more than one branch.

 Enacts Statutes or Acts  The enacted Statute as a whole is published as Public Law (Fed) or Session Law (State).  The enacted Statute is then published within a statutory code of laws: current, subject arranged, indexed. statutory code  Most research conducted in the statutory code  Statutes are constantly added, deleted, amended, so up-to-date resources are critical.

 Role is to take Statutes enacted by Legislative Branch and put them into effect  Authority delegated by the Statutes to agencies, dept’s, boards, et.al.  Agencies issue Rules and Regulations  Regulations published in same structure as Statutes, first as enacted as a whole, then in regulatory code  Regulations can also be added, deleted, or amended  Agencies also develop the “bureaucracy” of the law: policies, forms, adjudicatory bodies, etc.  Some legal areas more subject to regulation than others.

 Roles:  Interpret and apply Acts/Regulations as applied to specific disputes  Interpret and apply the Common Law  Court systems  Trial courts  Intermediate appellate courts  Supreme courts (courts of last resort)

 State vs. Federal  Most criminal, traffic, family law, personal injury, med- mal, real estate, consumer claims, liens, business, wills, estate planning take place in state courts  Federal courts handle limited, specific violations of federal criminal law. Also, discrimination, civil rights, bankruptcy, federal tax issues, social security, intellectual property.  Trial court levels (by county in PA)  Lesser courts: Magistrates/District Justices, small claims, traffic.  Court of primary jurisdiction  Common Pleas (PA); Federal District Court (Fed)  Allegheny County Court structure Allegheny County

 Pre-trial  Criminal: Arraignment/Indictment  Civil: Complaint followed by Answer  Preliminary Hearing(s)  Motions and Discovery  Court rules are critical  Trial  Jury or Court  Post-trial  JNOV or new trial  Appeal  Plea-bargaining or settlement can occur anytime!

 Primarily appellate court decisions  Mandatory precedent  Within the jurisdiction  At or above the court that you are before  “On point”  Persuasive precedent  Outside the jurisdiction  Below the court that you are before  “On point”

 Acts, Codes, Regulations, Cases are all Primary Law  “Authored” by the government  The “Law” itself  They will almost always interact with each other to address a legal issue  Secondary Law is most everything else  “Authored” by private/non-government  Intended to analyze, synthesize, summarize, arrange, aid in research  Excellent tools for the non-lawyer (librarian or patron)  Not for “ultimate” reliance  Includes search tools and finding aids