Finding the Law/ Court Systems
Grab Bag
Legal Research and Writing Techniques
Weight of Authority
Legal Citations
100
The name of the official set of books that publishes cases from the U.S. Supreme Court.
What is the United States Reports?
100
In case reporters, cases are organized in this manner.
What is chronological order?
100
To focus attention on the subject or actor of the sentence, which performs or causes certain action.
What is active voice?
100
Encyclopedias, law reviews, and treatises are considered this type of authority.
What is secondary authority?
100
What you must do to a case name in a citation.
What is italicize or underline?
200
The requirement that a plaintiff in a federal court case must allege actual or threatened injury.
What is standing?
200
This source contains the official version of federal statutes by subject.
What is the United States Code?
200
A movement within the legal world to make legal writing more comprehensible to the average reader.
What is the Plain English Movement?
200
Statutes, case law, and regulations are examples of this type of authority.
What is primary authority?
200
KRS
What is the Kentucky Revised Statutes?
300
The concept of following previous cases or precedents.
What is stare decisis?
300
The type of jurisdiction for state court. This is in contrast to federal courts, which are courts of limited jurisdiction.
What is general jurisdiction?
300
Issue, rule, analysis and conclusion.
What is IRAC?
300
Regarding the trial courts of Kentucky, the decisions of the Kentucky Supreme Court act as this type of authority.
What is controlling authority?
300
A reference to a particular page on which a quotation appears.
What is a pinpoint or jump cite?
400
The most widely used means to gain access to the U.S. Supreme Court from the lower courts of appeal.
What is a writ of certiorari?
400
Written opinions by justices who agree with the result reached in a case but disagree with the reasoning.
What is a concurring opinion?
400
A search method that uses symbols, word fragments, and numbers rather than plain English.
What is boolean searching?
400
On federal matters, the decisions of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals act as this type of authority for the federal district courts in Kentucky.
What is mandatory authority?
400
The information missing from the following citation: Henry Julian Abraham, Justices, Presidents, and Senators 290-95 (5th ed. ____).
What is publication year? Henry Julian Abraham, Justices, Presidents, and Senators 290-95 (5th ed. 2008).
500
The first printed version of a single court opinion is referred to as this.
What is a slip opinion?
500
Regulations are promulgated by these bodies.
What are administrative agencies?
500
Reasoning in a orderly, cogent fashion. This is an important component of legal writing and part of thinking like a lawyer.
What is logic?
500
Language in an opinion that is not necessary to the court's holding.
What is dictum?
500
The two best-known citation systems.
What are the Bluebook and ALWD?
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