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BASIC RESEARCH TERMINOLOGY
Advance Sheet
A paper pamphlet containing the most recently decided
cases in the jurisdiction
Annotation
A note, description, commentary, or criticism of a particular
case or statute See, e.g., the United States Code Annotated
(U.S.C.A.) or the American Law Reports (ALRs).
Bluebook
A reference to the most current edition of The Bluebook: A
Uniform System of Citation
Brief
- Appellate Brief
A document prepared in support or defense of an appeal.
Each state establishes its own rules for format, but all
customarily include: Cover sheet; table of contents; table of
authorities (all cases, statutes, rules, etc. referenced);
statement of issues (the questions of law presented in the
appeal); statement of facts; argument (applies the law to the
facts and issues in the case and may argue for a change in
the law); and conclusion (summarizes the high points of the
argument and states the desired outcome).
- Case Brief
Analysis of a court opinion in terms of its most essential
elements. Formats may vary but customarily include:
citation, legal history, statement of facts, legal issues in
dispute, court’s reasoning, and holding (the court’s decision
with respect to the legal issues in dispute)
Case of First
A case involving an issue being addressed for the first time
Impression
in a given jurisdiction
Citation
The “address” of a particular case, statute, article, etc.,
indicating where the item can be located, e.g. in which legal
publication (reporter, code, or journal)
Code
The body of statutes written by legislatures (state and
federal) generally organized by subject matter
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Concurring Opinion
An opinion of one or more judges who agree with the
outcome of a case but who want to explain their reasoning
as it differs in some respect from that expressed in the
majority opinion (in other words, the same conclusion is
reached but for different reasons)
Court Opinion
A court’s written explanation for reaching a particular
decision that may include both concurring and dissenting
opinions
Decision
A ruling, order or judgment of a court disposing of a case
after consideration of the applicable facts and law
Dicta
Remarks of a court in an opinion that are not essential to the
decision
Digest
A collection of brief summaries (annotations) of reported
cases arranged by subject matter in alphabetical order and
subdivided by jurisdiction; there are state digests, regional
digests, and a national digest (the American Digest System).
Discovery
The process by which parties engaged in litigation seek
information and materials known by and available to other
parties and potential witnesses in an action; It includes both
informal methods, such as searching public records and
formal methods including interrogatories, depositions, and
requests for production, admissions, and physical and
mental examinations.
Dissent
An explanation of the position of one or more judges who
disagree with the holding of a majority of the judges in a
given case
Holding
A legal principle essential to a court’s determination of a
legal matter (e.g. “the court held that the statute violates the
parties’ fundamental rights to privacy under the
constitution.” The court’s “decision” is that the statute is
unconstitutional, the “holding” states it is unconstitutional
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because it violates the right to privacy.)
Legal Encyclopedia
A multivolume set of books that address virtually every
major legal topic arranged alphabetically. The two national
encyclopedias are American Jurisprudence, 2d and Corpus
Juris Secundum. Some states have their own legal
encyclopedias.
Majority Opinion
An opinion of more than half the judges considering a
particular case
Memorandum
- Internal
Memorandum
- Legal
A memorandum intended for someone within the firm
addressing a particular need or issue
A memorandum to the court written in support of a motion
Memorandum/
describing the legal issue, detailing the law the attorney
Memorandum of
believes is applicable to the issue given the facts of the case,
Law
and requesting a particular ruling by the court.
- Pretrial
Memorandum
A memorandum prepared in advance of trial for the court’s
consideration and convenience. Formats vary somewhat by
state but usually include: history of the case; statement of
facts; identification of contested and uncontested issues;
client’s proposal for resolution of disputed issues (such as
custody, property division, or support); a discussion of the
law as it applies to the contested issues; and conclusion
(summarizes the high points of the argument and states the
desired outcome).
Motion
A written or oral request that a court make a particular
ruling or order
Online Database
A source of legal data available online through websites,
such as http://www.findlaw.com (many with links to state
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laws), and commercial online databases accessible for a fee
(e.g. Lexis-Nexis, Loislaw and WESTLAW). Appendix D
contains an extensive list of useful sites, some of which are
highlighted in individual chapters of this text
On Point
An adjective used to describe a case in which key facts of a
case and the client’s case are sufficiently similar that the
legal principle applied by the court in the earlier case may
be applicable in the client’s case.7
Opinion
A court’s written statement of its decision in a case, usually
including a summary of the facts and legal history of the
case, applicable points of law, rationale for the decision, and
dicta.8
Pleading
A document in which a party to a legal proceeding sets forth
or responds to a claim, allegation, defense, or denial
Pocket Part
A paper supplement to a hard bound volume that literally
fits into a pocket at the back of a volume
Practice Manual
A volume or set of volumes covering the law and
procedures in a particular area of practice, including court
rules, forms, and directions organized by area of substantive
law (e.g. family law, criminal law, probate law, etc.)
Precedent
A higher court’s decision regarding a question of law that
provides a basis for determining later cases that involve
similar facts or issues in a given jurisdiction
Primary Authority
Authority created by a governmental body such as a
legislature or court – includes statutes, constitutions, and
case law.
Procedural law
Technical rules for bringing and defending actions before a
court or administrative agency, e.g. the steps to be followed
in seeking child support. Rules are set forth in a variety of
state and federal sources governing various types of practice
(e.g. state and federal rules of civil procedure, state and
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federal rules of criminal procedure, rules of domestic
relations procedure, etc.). A family law case may require
reference to several sets of rules in addition to domestic
relations rules (rules of evidence, probate rules, etc.).
Reporter
Hard bound published volumes containing full decisions of
a particular court (e.g. United States Supreme Court) or
courts arranged in chronological order. There are state
reporters (covering courts in individual states, usually
including only decisions of higher and not trial courts),
regional reporters (covering a number of states in a
particular geographical area of the United States e.g. the
Northeast or Southwest), and reporters for all federal
appellate and Supreme Court cases (e.g. U.S. Reports). Each
volume may contain a hard bound supplement and a pocket
part.
Secondary Authority
Publications that explain but do not establish law including,
for example, treatises, annotations and law review articles
Shepherdizing
A term derived from a series of books known as Shepherd’s
Citations, Sheperdizing is the process of tracking the
subsequent history of a case to determine if it has been
overruled, reversed, explained, affirmed, or distinguished in
the judicial opinions of subsequent cases
Stare decisis
The doctrine that requires a lower court to follow the
precedent of a higher court in its jurisdiction (e.g.
application of earlier case law to current cases)
Substantive Law
Laws that relate to rights and obligations/duties (e.g. the
right to child support) rather than technical procedures
Template
The basic model or format of a document with blanks to be
filled in
Treatise
Overview of a particular legal topic, such as family law (e.g.
Homer H. Clark’s The Law of Domestic Relations in the
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United States)
Words and Phrases
A multivolume legal dictionary deriving definitions
primarily from court opinions