Secondary Authorities
Michie's Jurisprudence and Am. Jur. are examples of this type of secondary authority.
What are legal encyclopedias?
This is the name of the citator service on Lexis.
What is Shepard's?
The principle that a rule will apply for all similar cases until replaced by a higher court (or rarely, the same court).
What is stare decisis?
This resource helps you find info on a statute by its commonly used name.
What is the Popular Names Table?
These legal periodicals are often edited by law students.
What are law reviews?
This is the most well-known legal dictionary, also available on Westlaw.
What is Black's Law Dictionary?
On Westlaw, this symbol indicates that a case is no longer valid on at least one point of law.
What is a red flag (solid or striped)?
Virginia Supreme Court cases are published in this regional reporter.
What is the South Eastern Reporter?
Federal session laws are found in this publication.
What is (U.S.) Statutes at Large?
The number "576" in 576 U.S. 644 tells you this information.
What is volume number?
The annotations in this resource summarize specific legal topics and include nationwide tables of cases, updated weekly online.
What is American Law Reports?
This kind of search uses logical operators such as AND, OR, and BUT NOT.
What is Boolean?
Written opinions by judges who may agree with the majority decision in a case, but disagree with the reasoning.
What is a concurrence (or concurring opinion)?
They’re the two major unofficial versions of the U.S. Code, which include case notes and other editorial enhancements.
What are the USCA and USCS (U.S. Code Annotated and U.S. Code Service)?
It’s the information in a citation for finding a judicial opinion in multiple reporters.
What is parallel citation?
These in-depth publications on a single area of law are often known by the name of their original author(s).
What are treatises?
This is the name of the citator service on Bloomberg Law.
What is BCite?
This federal circuit court of appeals is a binding authority for the Western District of Virginia.
What is the (U.S. Court of Appeals for the) Fourth Circuit?
Session laws are published in this order.
What is chronologically?
This Advanced Search symbol in Westlaw is used as a wildcard for only 1 letter or character.
What is an asterisk?
This organization drafts and publishes Restatements of the Law.
What is the American Law Institute (ALI)?
These editorial enhancements on Westlaw organize cases by topic and points of law.
What are Key Numbers?
It's the official reporter for U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
What is United States (or U.S.) Reports?
It's the process by which statutes are arranged by topic and published with amendments.
What is codification?
After enactment, federal statutes are first published in pamphlets or PDFs known as these.
What are slip laws?