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Tables of Contents for Legal Research for Beginners
Chapter/Section Title
Page #
Page Count
How to Use This Book
Chapter 1 FIRST THINGS: THE LAW AND THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM
1
12
The Law
1
1
The American Legal System
2
8
Common law
2
1
Civil law
3
1
Jurisdiction
4
3
Federal Courts
4
3
State Courts
7
1
Hierarchy of laws
7
2
A final note on administrative law
9
1
Chapter Highlights
10
3
Chapter 2 GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE
13
11
Preliminary Thoughts
13
2
Words of comfort
13
1
Where do I go to do research?
14
1
Once I've located a law library
14
1
Relax and read
15
1
Summary of Research Steps
15
8
Step 1. Summarize the problem and define the legal issue
15
1
Step 2. Consult an encyclopedia
16
1
Step 3. Read the cases
16
1
Step 4. Find more cases
17
1
Step 5. Update your cases
18
1
Step 6. Consult civil law
19
1
Step 7. Perform computer research
20
1
Step 8. Organize your research and findings
20
1
Step 9. Decide what's next
21
1
A Word Before We Begin
22
1
Chapter Highlights
23
1
Chapter 3 DECIDING WHAT THE ISSUE IS
24
29
Transforming a Problem into a Legal Issue
24
1
Summarizing Your Problem
25
2
Include enough details in your summary
25
1
Tricks of the trade
26
1
Civil Law or Criminal Law?
27
1
Criminal Law, Briefly Explained
27
8
Crimes
28
4
Defenses to crimes
32
2
Related terms
34
1
Civil Law Explored
35
13
Example: Choosing Topics
48
1
Brainstorming for Keywords
48
3
You're Ready to Go!
51
1
Chapter Highlights
52
1
Chapter 4 LEARNING ABOUT YOUR TOPIC
53
29
Preparing for the Plunge
53
1
Example of Background Research: Collecting Alimony
53
1
Looking in an Encyclopedia
54
2
Deciphering an Encyclopedia Index
56
3
Article tables of contents and indexes
56
1
General indexes
57
2
Fine-tuning a General Index Search
59
1
Continuing the Search
60
1
Checking the Articles
61
1
Checking the Supplements and Using the New Topic Service
62
2
Don't Give Up!
64
2
Making a Reference List
66
2
Tackling the cases
66
1
Tackling all the other resources
67
1
State Encyclopedias
68
6
A brief look at federal versus state law
70
1
Case citations
71
1
References to other sources
72
2
American Law Reports
74
4
Loose-leaf Services
78
1
Law Reviews and Journals
78
2
What Now?
79
1
Chapter Highlights
80
2
Chapter 5 READING A CASE
82
18
The Power of Cases
82
1
The Basics
83
15
What is a case?
83
1
How to read a case citation
83
3
Where does the opinion start, or what's all that stuff at the beginning of the case?
86
6
Reading the text of the opinion
92
5
Taking notes on relevant cases
97
1
Chapter Highlights
98
2
Chapter 6 LOCATING THE CASE YOU NEED
100
26
One Good Case or Many
100
1
Using Cases Found in Background Sources
101
1
Using Digests and Shepard's
101
22
Digests
102
1
Shepard's Citations
103
1
Finding cases by name
104
4
Digests
105
1
Shepard's Citations
106
1
Other Sources
106
2
Finding more cases with the digests
108
9
The West Key Number System
108
4
Topic Approach
112
3
The Descriptive Word Index
115
2
Finding cases while updating
117
6
Updating With Shepard's
118
4
Computerized Updating
122
1
Chapter Highlights
123
3
Chapter 7 DETERMINING WHETHER YOUR ISSUE IS AFFECTED BY CIVIL LAW
126
45
The Vortex
126
1
How Legislatures Work
127
3
A short trip through the legislative process
127
3
How Statutes are Published
130
6
Slip laws
130
1
Session laws
131
1
The United States Code
131
4
Commercial publications of federal laws
135
1
Finding a Statute that Affects Your Case
136
28
When you already know that one exists
136
3
When you don't know whether or not one exists
139
1
The Topic Approach
139
1
Descriptive Word Approach
140
1
Determining whether or not the statute you've found controls your issue
140
16
Finding Cases That Interpret Your Sections of the Statute
144
1
Searching the Legislative History of Your Statute
144
11
Searching the Code of Federal Regulations
155
1
Updating your research
156
8
Updating a Statute
156
6
Updating a Regulation
162
2
Performing Constitutional Research
164
2
Using Your Civil Law Research
166
1
Chapter Highlights
166
5
Chapter 8 THE LAW IN THE MACHINE
171
33
The Shape of Things to Come
171
2
The Internet
173
9
What is the Internet and what do I need to get on it?
173
1
Searching on the Internet
174
8
The Fastest Way: Using a Uniform Resource Locator
175
3
The Relaxed Way: Using a Search Engine
178
3
Bulletin Board Systems
181
1
LEXIS and Westlaw Services
182
8
What can I find on LEXIS and Westlaw?
182
2
How can I search these systems?
184
6
Natural Language Searching
184
1
Boolean Searching
185
4
Updating Your Research
189
1
Law on CD-ROM
190
9
How to search on CD-ROM
191
8
Connectors
191
2
Universal Characters and Root Expanders
193
1
Putting It All Together
193
6
Taking Notes on Information Found in Computerized Sources
199
2
Chapter Highlights
201
3
Chapter 9 ORGANIZING YOUR RESEARCH
204
29
Preliminary Thoughts
204
1
Materials You Need to Write a Legal Memorandum
205
1
Just the Facts Ma'am
205
2
Stating the Issues
207
2
Discussing the Law as Applied to your Facts
209
8
If a statute applies to your issue
209
1
If there is no relevant statute regarding the issue
210
1
Example of a statement of the controversy
211
1
Evaluating the conflicting sides
211
5
Jurisdiction of the Court
211
1
Rank of the Court
212
2
Age of the Case
214
1
Similarity of the Case Authority's Facts To Your Facts
215
1
Whether the Court's Decision is Dicta or Holding
216
1
Putting your discussion together
216
1
Drawing Conclusions from the Data
217
1
A Sample Memorandum
218
13
The End?
231
1
Chapter Highlights
231
2
Chapter 10 PRACTICE FORMS, TRANSACTION FORMS, AND PRACTICE REFERENCES
233
20
What Next?
233
2
Practice Forms, Transaction Forms, and Practice References--Lists
235
12
Practice forms
235
3
Transactional forms
238
2
Practice references
240
4
Treatises
244
1
Guides for laypeople
244
3
How to Tackle Forms and Practice References
247
1
A Sample Case
247
3
Conclusion
250
1
Chapter Highlights
251
2
Appendix 1 Definitions from Barron's Law Dictionary
253
11
Appendix 2 A List of Some of the Loose-leaf Services Available
264
2
Appendix 3 Selected List of Available Case Reporters
266
14
Appendix 4 List of State Statutory Materials
280
7
Appendix 5 Shepard's Abbreviations
287
5
Index
292