Transcript LAW - Southeastern Oklahoma State University

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
U.S. Appellate Courts
U.S. District Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/
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
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
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
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/
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 Series 1880-1925
Federal Reporter 2nd Series 1925-1993
Federal Reporter, 3rd Series (1993-present)
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
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--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.
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--Covers opinions and decisions
from 1941 to date issued by the state courts of Alabama, Florida,
Louisiana, and Mississippi.
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
Online Access to Texas State
Court Cases
Texas Courts Online
Online Access to State Court
Cases
Cornell University Law School: State
Courts—By Jurisdiction (links to the state court
websites)
LexisOne: Free Case Law (last ten years of state
and federal courts and US Supreme court)
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.