Finding Court Cases (Case Law)

Last Updated 8/2005 Direct feedback on this page to lawlib@umn.edu.

» Introduction	» Reporter Abbreviations & Locations
» Digests	» Locating Cases via the Internet
» American Law Reports (ALR)	» Locating Case Law via LexisNexis Academic

Introduction

As courts decide the outcome of specific cases, they write and publish their decisions, which are called opinions or cases. These opinions are printed in volumes called reporters or reports. The names of the parties involved, volume number, name of the reporter, number of the first page of the case, and the year when the case was decided is called the case citation or cite. For example, First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978) tells you that this case can be found in volume 435 in the reporter entitled United States Reports, beginning on page 765, and it was decided during 1978.

Reporters print cases in the order they are received from the courts, making access difficult if you do not have the citation to the case. This handout explains how you can locate the citation to a case by subject or by the name of the parties involved. For a video showing how to research cases using print sources, see the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Library website.

Digests

If you want to locate cases on a particular subject, use a digest. Digests are arranged alphabetically by broad subject areas which are further subdivided into more specific areas. Within the more specific subject areas, you will find citations to cases.

If you do not know which broad subject area contains citations to relevant cases, use the detailed subject index provided with most digests called the Descriptive-Word Index. These subject indexes help to determine the most relevant broad subject and subdivision of that subject under which to look for relevant cases. Each digest also contains a Table of Cases which is arranged alphabetically by the first party's name.

The digest contains the citation to and a short summary of the case, not the case itself. When you find a reference to a case that you think is relevant, write down the citation for that case and go to the appropriate reporter to find the opinion.

West Publishing produces many of the legal digests you will find in a law library. West has created a subject arrangement that is used in their digests. The large subject area is called a topic and each subsection of the topic is assigned a key number. Therefore, a reference to "Torts, key number 100" refers to subsection 100 under the topic "Torts". Each digest has its own subject index, the Descriptive-Word Index, and its own Table of Cases.

A. Choosing the Correct Digest.

If you want to locate cases from the Supreme Court of the United States only, use:

United States Supreme Court Digest (West)(Rep KF101.A17x) or
Digest of United States Supreme Court Reports (Lawyers' Co-op)(Rep KF101.A15x)
If you want to locate cases from all of the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, use:
Federal Digest - cases before 1939 (Rep KF105.A12x)
Modern Federal Practice Digest - cases decided from 1939 through 1960 (Rep KF105.A13x)
Federal Practice Digest 2d - cases decided from 1961 through Nov. 1975 (Rep KF105.A133x)
Federal Practice Digest 3d - cases decided since Nov. 1975 (Rep KF105.A134x)
Federal Practice Digest 4th - cases decided since 1989 (Rep KF105.A134x)

If you want to locate cases from all federal and state courts, use:

Century Digest - cases decided between 1658 until 1896 (Core 2, 144 Century)
Decennial Digests - each decennial covers 10 years, beginning with 1897 (Core 2, 144)
General Digest - used to update from the last available Decennial to the present (Core 2, 144.A3)

If you want to locate cases from the courts in only one state:
Most states have a digest that covers only the courts from that state. For example, Minnesota Digest (Rep KFM 5445.A18; Reserve) refers to cases from Minnesota courts only.

B. Updating A Digest.

Always update every source you use. Most digests are updated by a paper pamphlet, also called a pocket part, which is inserted into the back of the volume of the digest you are using or a separate paper pamphlet which should be shelved next to the volume it updates. Another method used to update a digest is to create a new set for later cases, usually called a second series, third series, etc.

American Law Reports (ALR)

Another source for locating cases on a subject is American Law Reports (Rep KF132.A4). In this set, experts in the law have written articles, called annotations, on various legal subjects. Within these annotations are citations to cases that are relevant to the subject of the annotation.

To find an annotation on a subject, use the index to the set, Index to Annotations (Rep KF132.A475x), which is shelved with the American Law Reports.

Reporter Abbreviations & Locations

Federal, regional, and Minnesota case reporters are located on the first floor (Plaza level, section E) of the library. Case reporters for other states are located on the third floor of the library, KFA-KFZ (sections E and F).

If you have a question about reporter abbreviations found in case citations, consult a reference librarian or D. Bieber, Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations Used In American Law Books (4^th ed., 1993) (Reference Office).

Locating Cases via the Internet

Two convenient locations for locating case law via the Internet are the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School and FindLaw

Be aware that coverage of court decisions (other than U.S. Supreme Court decisions) may be very limited in scope and in some cases not available via the Internet, this is especially true for older cases (1995 and earlier).

Locating Cases via LexisNexis Academic

Full text court decisions are electronically available on LexisAcademic.* Coverage varies by jurisdiction.

*Campus-wide access (U of M-TC) for all users. Public access from campus libraries. Remote (off-campus) access available for U of M-TC affiliated users)

Links verified 2/29/08