This document provides instructions for a legal research and writing assignment requiring the student to locate and summarize various legal authorities, including federal and state statutes and case law. It includes directions to find and summarize the content of 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1332, and 1333, and to locate two federal cases and two state cases, summarizing the main issue in each case. The document also provides partial citations and requires the student to complete them. Finally, it instructs the student to locate Miranda v. Arizona in an unofficial reporter and quote portions of the opinion.

1. Legal Research and Writing Assignment # 2
Locating Legal Authority Given Identifying Information
A. Locating authority, separating law from commentary, comparing official to commercial
versions
1. Find the following statutes and summarize their content:
(a) 28 U.S.C. § 1331
Summary:
This section addresses the ‘Federal question1’ of how federal district courts could
apply federal law. It lays down the rule that federal district courts must exercise the
powers given to them by an Act of Congress. It further discusses the subject matter
jurisdiction of federal district courts as being that of a general class2 and not
sufficiency of the claim. It goes on to discuss the sovereign immunity of the federal
courts. Its amendments include the striking out of the $10,000 limit for establishing
original jurisdiction for cases to be heard at the federal court and replacing it with a
$3,000 amount.
(b) 28 U.S.C. § 1332
Summary:
This section is entitled ‘Diversity of citizenship; amount in controversy; costs’. It lays
down the law for when federal district courts will have original jurisdiction in
diversity jurisdiction cases; namely, when the opposing parties are citizens of
different States3; when one of the parties is a citizen of a foreign country4; when the
original parties are from different states and additional parties added to the case later
on are members of foreign countries,5 and when a foreign country is a plaintiff to
proceedings initiated by citizens of a State of different States6. The amount of
damages in dispute must also not exceed $75,0007. Interestingly, corporations are
interpreted as citizens of the state where they have their principal place of business8.
1 Title 28, United States Code, Officeof the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, 361 (2012)
2 28 USCS § 1331, Lexis Advance© Research
3 28 U.S.C § 1332 (a) (1)
4 28 U.S.C § 1332 (a) (2)
5 28 U.S.C § 1332 (a) (3)
6 28 U.S.C § 1332 (a) (4)
7 Title 28, United States Code, Officeof the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, 361 (2012)
8 28 U.S.C § 1332 (c) (1)

2. (c) 28 U.S.C. § 1333
Summary:
This section provides for the Federal courts’ jurisdiction regarding ‘Admiralty,
maritime and prize cases’.9 It states that federal district courts will enjoy original
jurisdiction in civil cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, exclusive of state
courts.10 Claimants will be entitled, under this Section, to all remedies that they would
otherwise be entitled to. Subsection (2) states that the federal district court also has
jurisdiction for prizes brought into the United States and properties taken as prizes.
2. When was each of the following statutes first passed? When was each last amended?
(a) 28 U.S.C. § 1331
First passed: June 25th, 1948
Last amended: December 1st, 1980
(b) 28 U.S.C. § 1332
First passed: June 25th, 1948
Last amended: December 7th, 2011
(c) 28 U.S.C. § 1333
First passed: June 25th, 1948
Last amended: May 24th, 1949
5. Find Miranda v Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694 (1966), in an
unofficial reporter.
(a) What is the first sentence of the opinion?
“The cases before us raise questions which go to the roots of our concepts of American
criminal jurisprudence: the restraints society must observe consistent with the Federal
Constitution in prosecuting individuals for crime.”
(b) Quote the first sentence of the portion of the opinion associated with headnote 10 (S. Ct.) or
18 (L. Ed. 2d).
“Presuming waiver from a silent record is impermissible. The record must show, or there
must be an allegation and evidence which show, that an accused was offered counsel but
intelligently and understandingly rejected the offer. Anything less is not waiver.”
9 Title 28, United States Code, Officeof the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, 366 (2012)
10 28 U.S.C § 1333 (1)

3. (c) On what page of the official U.S. reporter would this language be found?
Page 467
(d) If both unofficial reporters are available, which do you prefer? Why?
If WestLaw were also available to use, I would still prefer using LexisNexis as I find the
interface to be more user friendly and there are more research tools to take advantage of as
opposed to WestLaw.
B. Locating federal case law when given partial information
Given the case name, court, and year of decision, find the following cases and complete the
citation.
1. Klump v. Duffus, 71 F. 3d 1368 (7th Cir. 1997)
2. Bensusan Rest. Corp. v. King, 126 F. 3d 25 (2d Cir 1997)
C. Locating state authorities
1. Summarize the content of the following statutes:
(a) 735 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/2-209 (2001)
Summary:
The Section 735 of Illinois Compiled Statute discusses whether or not a citizen or resident of
Illiniois who enters into business transactions within the state, contractual obligations, or
commits a tortious act within the state, may be cause enough for the State to establish
jurisdiction.
It continues to enumerate when a court may exercise jurisdiction arising within or outside of
Illinois against a person who is a natural person in Illinois when served, or domiciled in the State
when the action arose, or is a corporation under state law. Courts can exercise jurisdiction
wherever it corresponds with Illinois’ Constitution, and that this Section does not limit the
application of the law by any of its implicit provisions.
(b) N.Y. C.P.L.R. 302 (McKinney 2001)
Summary:
Section 302 of the New York Consolidated Law Service discusses personal jurisdiction by acts
of non-domiciliaries and the causes of action which will give rise to the personal jurisdiction of
New York’s courts. Conducting business within the state, tortious acts within or outside the state

4. if they regularly conduct business in New York, or own or possess real property in New York.
Personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendant in matrimonial actions or family court
proceedings are also discussed, as well as foreign defamation judgment where, if the publication
was in New York and the person amenable has real estate in the State, the court may satisfy the
personal jurisdiction criteria.
2. Locate the following cases and summarize the main issue:
(a) Malone v. Equitas Reinsurance, 101 Cal. Rptr. 2d 524 (Ct. App. 2000)
Summary of main issue:
The main issue in this case is that of establishing personal jurisdiction. Plaintiffs Thomas E.
Malone and Cyril Lucas filed two separate cases against Equitas Reinsurance Ltd in the
Californian Superior Court of Los Angeles County. They appealed the judgment of the Superior
Court, contesting their holding that the case lacked personal jurisdiction. The Defendants were
unable to establish the requisite minimum contacts in California to exercise personal jurisdiction
because they could not provide evidence of conducting business in California. The court held
that simply contracting with citizens from another state was not sufficient to establish personal
jurisdiction.
(b) Banco Colpatria Cayman, Inc. v. Illial Int’l, S.A., 758 S0. 2d 1288 (Fla. 2000)
Summary of main issue:
The issue in question in this case is that of establishing personal jurisdiction. Banco Colpatria
Cayman, Inc. appealed Florida’s Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County’s denial to grant a
motion to dismiss Illial International’s case for lack of personal jurisdiction. The decision of the
circuit court was affirmed, as there was sufficient evidence to suggest that the Bank was
operating and conducting business in Florida and the due process test of minimum contacts was
satisfied.
Sahar Saqib