Transcript Statutory Research Short Show

West’s Instructional Aid Series
Statutory Research
West’s Instructional Aid Series
Contents
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Introduction
The Legislative Process
Anatomy of a Statute
Statutory research: Print and Online
Updating Statutory Research
Expanding Statutory Research
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KeyCite®
Case Law (Annotations)
Legislative History
Secondary Sources
Introduction
Back to Contents
Introduction
Sources of American Law
Statutory Law is enacted by the Legislatures.
Case Law is decided by the
Courts.
Regulations are issued by the Executive Branch
(Agencies).
Introduction
Federal Statutes
• Federal statutes are codified in the United States Code.
– The United States Code (USC) is the official version of
the statutes and is published by the Government
Printing Office.
– The United States Code Annotated® (USCA)® in print is
published by West.
– USCA is the database on Westlaw®
that contains the USCA.
Introduction
State Statutes
• Each state has a statutes publication. The publication might
be called statutes, statutes annotated, laws, code, or code
annotated. The annotated versions enhance your ability to
find relevant cases and statutes.
• XX-ST-ANN (where XX is the state’s
two-letter postal abbreviation) is the database
identifier for annotated state statutes
on Westlaw.
Introduction
State Legislative Processes
• Most state legislatures are modeled after the United States
Congress and consist of two houses. Only Nebraska has a
one-house legislature.
• Legislation moves through state legislatures in much the
same way it moves through Congress.
• The governor signs or vetoes the legislation and there are
state provisions for overriding a governor’s veto.
• What is said about the federal legislative
process is usually true of state
legislative processes.
The model for this presentation
will be the federal statutes.
Introduction
Statutes: the Neglected Side of Legal
Research
• Most of what you learn in law school will be based on the
common-law traditions of the courts.
• Statutory law is often obscurely or ambiguously worded.
• It must be interpreted by case law.
• This case law often becomes a more accessible source
of law than the statute.
• Statutory research may seem complicated. This is due, in
part, to the fact most that researchers are not trained in
statutory research.
Introduction
Statutes are the Neglected Side of Legal
Research But…
• Statutes are around to stay. They are the cornerstone of
our legal system.
• Only a court of competence can declare a clearly worded
statute unconstitutional.
• Don’t fight them. There is help!
The Legislative Process
Back to Contents
The Legislative Process
The Legislative Process
• Introduction of a bill (proposed legislation)
• Passed by both houses of Congress
• Signed by president or president’s veto is overridden
• Becomes a “session law” or “public law”
• Incorporated into statutory code
The Legislative Process
A Bill Is Introduced
• A bill is introduced by a sponsor(s) in one or both houses
of Congress.
• A bill is assigned a bill number (H.R. 14, 107th Cong., 1st
Sess. (2001)).
• This bill number usually follows the proposed
legislation through hearings, amendments,
congressional committees, etc., until enactment or the
end of the current legislative period.
The Legislative Process
A Bill Is Introduced
• A companion bill may be introduced in the other house of
the legislature at any time.
• Committee hearings may be held and amendments to the
bill may be made. If the committee votes favorably on the
bill, a committee report in support of the bill accompanies
the bill back to the floor in many jurisdictions.
• A bill may die in committee and never reach the full house
for vote.
The Legislative Process
Bill S. 940
Sponsors
Short Title
Federal bill S. 904 (Leave No Child Behind Act of 2001),
sponsored by Senators Dodd, Wellstone, and Kennedy, as it
appears in the Congressional Bills – 107th Congress database.
The Legislative Process
A Bill Becomes Law
• When the bill passes one house, it is sent to the other house
for consideration.
• The other house may approve and pass the bill to the
president in identical form.
• More likely, the other house will propose a variation of the
bill and both houses must negotiate a compromise.
• When both houses pass the bill in identical form, it is sent
to the president for a signature or veto.
The Legislative Process
A Bill Becomes Law
• If signed (or not vetoed within 10 days), the bill becomes
a “session law” or “public law.”
• If the president vetoes the bill, the veto may be overridden
by two-thirds majority in both houses. (If the president
takes no activity on the bill at the end of a legislative
session the bill is, in effect, vetoed. This is called a
“pocket veto.”)
• The public law is renumbered using the number of the
congressional session and the numerical order in which the
law was enacted:
• P.L. 107-14 and P.L. 107-15 are the 14th and 15th bills
to be enacted by the 107th session of Congress.
The Legislative Process
A public law may
• add a section (statute) in the statutory code
• change language in a section (statute)
• repeal a section (statute) of the statutory code
• re-number a section (statute)
• do all of the above
The Legislative Process
Public Laws Are Published
• An enacted law is first published officially by the
Government Printing Office as an individual slip law
and sent to government depository libraries and other
libraries that subscribe to these publications.
• Public laws are published in compiled volumes in
chronological order in The Statutes at Large, the
official government publication. There is a two to
four-year lag in publication of these volumes.
The Legislative Process
Public Laws are Published
• The U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative
News® (USCCAN), published by West, issues monthly
pamphlets including newly enacted laws.
• The monthly USCCAN pamphlets are reissued in
bound volume after each congressional session.
• Public laws are also published in the USCCAN
and US-PL (United States Public Laws)
databases on Westlaw.
The Legislative Process
A slip law as it appears on Westlaw in the US-PL database
shortly after enactment. There are also archived public
laws in the US-PL-OLD database, which contains
public laws from 1973 to the previous session of Congress.
The Legislative Process
A Public Law Is Codified
• The public law then changes the statutory code to:
• bring all laws on the same topic together
• eliminate all repealed or expired statutes
• unite amendments with the original statute
• This process is called codification
• the United States Code is divided into 50 titles, often
called codes (see next screen)
• Title 11 is the Bankruptcy Code
• Title 26 is the Tax Code
The Legislative Process
United States Code
is organized in broad
subject categories
called titles. The 50
titles are in rough
alphabetical order.
The Legislative Process
Each title is further divided into individual sections,
which contain the actual text of the statutes. (The words
section and statute are usually synonymous.)
The Legislative Process
A single public law may amend or affect many sections in
different titles of the Code.
The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act of 2001 or
P.L. 107-12 amended sections in Titles 42 and 15 of the USCA.
The Legislative Process
Codification
in the U.S.
Code
Sections in the
public law
Public Law 106-120, the Intelligence Authorization Act
for the Fiscal Year 2001, has been codified in both Title 50
and Title 21 of the United States Code. The USCA-POP
(USCA Popular Name Table) database on Westlaw shows
where a public law section has been codified in the United
States Code Annotated.
Summary of the Legislative Process
Bill Passes
Congress or
State Legislature
President or
Governor
Signs Bill
Session Law/
Public Law
Statutory
Code
Codification occurs when the language of the session or public
law changes the statutory code in some way.
Anatomy of a Statute
Return to Contents
Anatomy of a Statute
The United States Code
The United States Code (USC)
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Is issued every six years
Is updated annually
Is arranged into 50 titles
References the Statutes at Large citation
Includes historical notes and cross-references to related
sections
• Includes an index, a table of acts cited by popular name,
and conversion tables that allow you to move between the
present version and earlier versions of the Code
Anatomy of a Statute
The United States Code
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The United States Code (USC), as published by the
government, has several drawbacks
– There is a publication lag, especially for the annual
supplements.
– There are no references to interpreting case law.
The meaning of a statute is often unclear and must be
interpreted by the courts. The decisions of the
courts often become more important sources of law
than the text of the statutes.
Anatomy of a Statute
The United States Code Annotated
(USCA)
The USCA contains the text and features of the statute as they
appear in the USC, plus
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references to legislative history, and federal regulations
references to the West Key Number System
references to law review and journal commentaries
library references
references to texts and treatises
Notes of Decisions (annotations)
Anatomy of a Statute
United States Code Annotated
Citation :
18 USCA 241
Text
The text of the statute in the USCA is unchanged from
how it appears in the USC, as published by the
Government Printing Office.
Anatomy of a Statute
United States Code Annotated
Credits (Text Amendments)
are past session laws that
enacted or modified the
statute.
Historical and
Statutory Notes (Editor’s
Notes) are compiled by
West attorney-editors and
give a more detailed
legislative history of the
statute.
Anatomy of a Statute
United States Code Annotated
Cross-references
(to other USCA sections)
Library references (to
many secondary sources)
References to topic
and key numbers
Law review and journal
commentaries
Texts and treatises
Anatomy of a Statute
United States Code Annotated
Index to the Notes of Decisions
(annotations). Subjects are listed
alphabetically
Anatomy of a Statute
United States Code Annotated
• Notes of Decisions
(annotations) are
summaries of how courts
have interpreted the
statute with links to the
case law.
• Notes of Decisions are
the headnotes from cases
that West attorney-editors
have identified as
significantly interpreting
or applying the statute.
Statutory Research: In Print and Online
Back to Contents
Research Online
Sarah Jones has finished law school, passed the bar, and
found a job with a legal aid service. Four years of college
and three years of law school have run her student loan
debt to well over $100,000 and her salary will never
stretch to make the payments on that amount.
Sarah is considering filing for bankruptcy.
Could this extreme measure solve Sarah’s problem?
Research Online
Finding Relevant Statutes Online:
The Find Service
There are several different but effective ways to find the
Exceptions to Discharge in Bankruptcy statute (section).
• If Sarah knows the citation of the discharge statute, she can
simply type it in the Find this document by citation: text
box on the Law School page or click the Find link on the
toolbar.
Find
Find
11 USCA 523
Research Online
Find a State Statute by Citation
• You can type the following in the Find this document by
citation: text box:
– Enter xx st nnn.nn (where xx stands for the state’s twoletter postal abbreviation and nnn.nn stands for the
citation number)
– Example: mn st 313.01 (do not include paragraph
letter or number, as in 313.01(a)(4))
• For code states or other states with irregular numbering,
simply type xx st in the Find this document by citation:
text box. See next screen.
Research Online
State Statute Template
• A template for the state’s
statutes is displayed.
• Just type in the statute number
in the appropriate code’s text
box.
• Click GO beside the text box
and you will retrieve the state
statute, in this case, Texas
Agricultural Code, section
41.002.
Research Online
Documents in Sequence
If Sarah isn’t sure she has retrieved the correct section but
believes she is very close to it, she could use the
Documents in Sequence feature by selecting Documents in
Sequence under the Tool link at the bottom of the right
frame.
Docs. in Seq.
Tools
Research Online
Documents in Sequence
• Now Sarah will be viewing 11 USCA 524.
• The Doc in Seq arrows at the bottom of the right frame
allow her to move forward or backward, statute by statute,
just as if she were paging through the statutes in print.
Docs in Seq
Research Online
Table of Contents for Statutes
• Sarah could access the Table of Contents service which is
available for each statutory database on Westlaw and open
it to the desired section.
• The Table of Contents service is also a great way for Sarah
to browse the sections around the desired statute to see if
any have relevance to her situation.
TOC link on
Links for Tab
11 USCA 523
Research Online
A Natural Language Search
• Sarah could run a Natural Language search, which can be
very effective in annotated statute database, in that.
• The looser structure of a natural language search will often
be more successful than a terms and connectors search in
capturing the unpredictable language of a statute.
• The search:
can student loans be discharged in bankruptcy
retrieves the Notes of Decisions shown on the next slide.
Research Online
educational benefit overpayment or loan
Student loan
Student loan
Student loan
Student loan
11 USCA 523 is the first document displayed. The “best” portion
of the statue is in the annotations in the familiar language of the
courts. Sarah retrieved this document even though the text of the
statute does not mention a student loan exception to discharge in
bankruptcy. (The text of the statute uses “educational benefit
overpayment or loan”.)
History
Click the red flag or History on the Links for tab to see that
this statute has been held unconstitutional by several
courts.
Expanding Research-Notes of Decisions
Expanding Research Using the Notes of
Decisions
• Many statutes are obscurely worded and must be
interpreted by case law.
• Notes of Decisions (or annotations) are headnotes of cases
that significantly interpret or apply the statute.
• Case law compares the language of the statute with the
language of other statutes, reconciles language within the
statute, and explores legislative history concerning the
statute to discover the intent of the legislature.
• The language of the case law often becomes more useful
for the researcher than the language of the statute.
Expanding Research-Notes of Decisions
Notes of Decisions
• Notes of decisions can be accessed by clicking the Notes of
Decisions link on the Links for tab when viewing a statute.
• Notes of Decisions are preceded by a main index and, if
needed, subdivision indexes.
• Each subdivision deals with one topic of interpretation of
the statute by the courts.
Link to Notes of Decs.
Notes of Decisions Index
Expanding Research-Notes of Decisions
• Above are the Notes of Decisions for 11 USCA 523 under
the Educational or Student Loan subdivision.
• Note the links to the full-text cases.