The document provides an overview of secondary legal sources including the American Law Reports (ALR), legal encyclopedias such as American Jurisprudence and Corpus Juris Secundum, restatements of the law, legal periodicals, texts, law dictionaries, and uniform laws. It explains that secondary sources explain and interpret primary law but are never binding. It also discusses how to use and update sources such as ALR articles.

1. SECONDARY SOURCES
West’s Instructional Aid Series

2. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
2

3. PRIMARY & SECONDARY LAW
• Primary law sources:
– are statements of law by governmental institutions, such as the
courts or legislatures
– consists of case law, statutes, constitutions, administrative
decisions, rules of court, and regulations
– may be binding (mandatory) or persuasive authority
• Secondary law sources:
–
–
–
–
are statements about the law by legal experts
explain, interpret, develop, locate, or update primary law
are never binding (mandatory) authority
may be persuasive authority
3

4. BINDING & PERSUASIVE AUTHORITY
• Binding or mandatory law:
– Applies to the current case and must be followed
• Persuasive law:
– Can be analogized to the current case and may be followed.
Persuasive law includes primary law that is
• law from another jurisdiction
• dicta
• a similar but different fact pattern
– Secondary law
4

5. WHY USE SECONDARY SOURCES IF THEY
ARE NOT BINDING AUTHORITY?
• They often provide an objective overview of an area of
the law; therefore they are a good place to start
research in an unfamiliar area of the law.
• They may raise issues not previously considered.
• They cite or link to cases, statutes, and other secondary
sources that are relevant to the current issue.
• Some secondary sources are sufficiently respected that
they can be used as persuasive authority when primary
source authority cannot be found.
5

6. USEFUL SECONDARY SOURCES
AVAILABLE ON WESTLAW AND IN PRINT
• American Law Reports (ALR)
• American Jurisprudence 2d (AMJUR)
• Restatements of the Law
• Law reviews (depth of coverage on Westlaw varies)
• Bar journals (depth of coverage on Westlaw varies)
• Black’s Law Dictionary®
• Uniform Model Laws
• Many treatises
6

7. A SAMPLE ISSUE
Mr. Smith decides to throw a cocktail party for potential
contributors to his favorite charity. He lavishly supplies
alcoholic beverage while soliciting donations. The party
is a great success. Much money is raised, and the
guests show all the signs of completely enjoying
themselves. Several of the guests become unruly.
Mr. Smith escorts one such guest, Mr. Jones, to his car,
helps him into the car, and warns him to “be careful.”
Mr. Jones drives off but within a few blocks of the party
crashes into another car, causing severe injuries to both
himself and the occupants of the other car.
7

8. A SAMPLE ISSUE
Mr. Smith’s lawyer knows that the state’s Dram Shop
Law imposes liability on commercial sellers of alcohol
who illegally sell alcohol to a customer who later
causes injuries due to intoxication. In some states this
liability extends to social hosts who accept something
in return for drinks; in others it does not.
• If you are unfamiliar with this area of the law in your
state, secondary source materials are an excellent
starting point for your research.
• Secondary sources:
– provide an objective overview of the topic
– suggest issues you might not have thought of
– reference relevant cases and statutes
8

9. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
9

10. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR)
• ALR editors select and report cases that represent
specific legal issues that are emerging, unsettled or
changing and that are of interest to many lawyers.
• A legal scholar writes an annotation,
often called an ALR “article”, using the
case as the basis of the annotation.
• The article explores the law of the
jurisdictions that have dealt with this issue.
• The author uses this law to provide an
objective analysis of the current state of
this area of the law.
10

11. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR) IN PRINT
INCLUDES SEVERAL SERIES
• ALR 1st series: volumes 1-175 (1919-1948)
• ALR 2d series: volumes 1-100 (1949-1965)
• ALR 3d series: volumes 1-100 (1965-1980)
• ALR 4th series: volumes 1-90 (1980-1992)
• ALR 5th series: (1992-2004)
• ALR 6th series: (2005-present)
• ALRFed 1st series: (1969-2004)
• ALRFed 2d series: (2005 – present)
11

12. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR)
• The print articles include1
– Total Client-Service Library® and other research sources
references
•
•
•
•
•
•
legal encyclopedias and texts
practice aids
law review articles
electronic search queries
West Key Numbers
ALR Digest
– Article outline
– Index to topics included
– Jurisdictional table of cited
cases and statutes
– Text of the annotation
1 Features vary somewhat by series.
12

13. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR) –
FEATURES IN PRINT
Total Client-Service Library
and other research sources
Article Outline
and Index
Table of Jurisdictions
Represented
13

14. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR)
• Finding Aids in each volume
• Each recent volume includes
– Contents (annotations in the
volume)
– Subjects Annotated in the volume
– Table of Cases reported in the
volume
– Some 4th Series and all 5th Series
volumes include instructions
explaining
• how to find an article
• how to use an article
• a graphic showing how to
update an annotation
14

15. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR) – USING
THE ALR INDEX
• Multivolume ALR Index
– lists articles by subject matter
– includes all ALR volumes, except those in the First Series
– is updated with annual pocket parts
• ALR Federal Quick Index
• ALR Quick Index for ALR 3d, 4th, and 5th series
15

16. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR) – USING
THE ALR DIGEST
• ALR Digest is divided into more than 400
topics arranged alphabetically.
• Under each topic are headnotes from
cases reported in the entire ALR family
along with a list of the articles that deal
with the particular subject in question.
• ALR has a digest set.
• ALR2d has a digest set.
• ALR3d, ALR4th, ALR5th, and ALR Fed
are combined in one digest set.
16

17. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR) –
UPDATING ALR ARTICLES
• Check the annual supplement in the back of the main volume in
the ALR 3d, 4th, and 5th series.
• The supplement provides citations to more recent cases relevant
to the article topic.
• Digests of cases are keyed to the correct section of each article.
• ALR2d is kept current by a multivolume ALR2d Later Case
Service.
• ALR (First Series) is kept current by the ALR Blue Book of
Supplemental Decisions. Each of the eight volumes covers a
specific time period.
• Latest Case Service Hotline updates each supplement. The
phone number (1-800-225-7488) is printed on the cover of each
supplement.
17

18. SUPERSEDING & SUPPLEMENTING ALR
ANNOTATIONS
• The analysis of the law as presented in an early
article may be changed by later case law.
• Articles in the first and second series were often
supplemented by a later article and the original and
the supplementing articles had to be read together.
• Annotation History Table in the last volume of the
ALR Index gives the history of articles in all the ALR
series.
• KeyCite History on Westlaw also shows whether an
ALR articles has been superseded or supplemented.
18

19. SUPERSEDING ALR ANNOTATIONS
A red KeyCite flag
is displayed on the
superseded ALR
annotations.
62 ALR4th 16 has
superseded both
75 ALR2d 833 and
97 ALR3d 528.
Superseded by
Superseded in Part by
19

20. AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR)
• In the print ALR volumes, the lead case precedes the
article or, in ALR5th, all cases are printed at the end of
the volume.
• You can use the Find service on Westlaw to retrieve
either the ALR lead case or the ALR article.
– Find 62 alr4th 1 - retrieves the case
– Find 62 alr4th 16 - retrieves the article
• The ALR case citation is a parallel citation to the state,
regional, or federal reporter citation.
• On Westlaw, the lead case is not in the ALR
database. It can be found in the appropriate state,
regional, or federal case database(s).
20

21. ALR ON WESTLAW
• In the ALR database on Westlaw, there are often very
current articles that discuss recent issues of interest
that have not yet appeared in the print version.
• The Total Client-Service Library and other references
are accessed by clicking Document Outline on the
Links for tab in the left frame of the retrieved ALR
article. (See next slide.)
• The Article (Annotation) Outline is accessed by
clicking Document Outline on the Links for tab in the
left frame. (See next slide.)
• You can also link from the Document Outline to the
article’s Index and Table of Jurisdictions.
• Database: ALR
– Query: ti(“social host” /s liab!)
21

22. ALR Features on Westlaw
• The Table of Contents in each
ALR article contains links to
finding aids including an Index
and a Table of Cases.
22

23. USING WESTLAW AS A CITATOR
• KeyCite Citing References for case law, statutes,
federal regulations, and agency decisions will include
links to citing ALR articles.
• ALR articles have KeyCite History and KeyCite Citing
References links on the Links for tab. KeyCite History
for an ALR annotation will show if an ALR article has
been superseded by a more recent article.
• Use Westlaw as a citator. Enter a search, such as
– dram-shop “social host” /s liab! /p a.l.r.!
to retrieve references to ALR articles in databases
that contain cases, texts, or legal periodicals.
23

24. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
24

25. ENCYCLOPEDIAS
• Legal encyclopedias
– are arranged alphabetically by topic
– divide topics into sections
– have a fairly short non-analytical narrative in
each section
– give a general, rather than in-depth, view of the
law
– cross-reference relevant primary law
• Legal encyclopedias are a good place
– to start research in an unfamiliar area of the law
– to get a quick, general, answer to a legal
question
25

26. AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE 2D
• Provides a broad
overview of a topic
• Identifies specialized
vocabulary
• Provides citations to
primary materials and
ALR annotations
• Cross-references other
secondary material
26

27. AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE 2D
• The print version of Am Jur 2d consists of
– 120 volumes1
– more than 430 titles
• Each volume contains a
– Table of Contents
– Table of Parallel References
– Table of Statutes and Rules Cited
– Index for articles in the volume
• Topics are preceded by a detailed scope note, general
cross-references, and an outline of the topic.
1
The last volume is numbered 83 because more than one volume may have the same number, for example the
volumes 45, 45A, 45B.
27

28. AMERICAN JURISPRUDENCE 2D
• The annual four-volume General Index contains
definitions of words and phrases.
• On Westlaw, the index can be retrieved in the AMJUR
databases with a search, such as:
– ci(index)
– ci(index) & dram-shop
• There is a separate volume titled
Table of Statutes, Regulations,
and Rules Cited.
28

29. UPDATING AMJUR 2D
• There are annual pocket supplements.
• The Am Jur Index is issued each year.
• The New Topic Service, in looseleaf format,
introduces new material before new volumes are
issued:
– new topics of the law
– substantial changes in the law
• Bound volumes are periodically revised.
29

30. OTHER AMJUR PUBLICATIONS
• American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts
– A multivolume set
– a practical guide for lawyers
– contains
• checklists and planning advice
• preparation for trial materials
• examination of witnesses materials
• American Jurisprudence Trials is a
treatise on litigation practice.
• American Jurisprudence Legal Forms
and American Jurisprudence Pleading
and Practice Forms (Revised) contain
the forms needed in the practice of law.
30

31. AMJUR DATABASES ON WESTLAW
• AMJUR – Am Jur 2d
• AMJUR-LF – American Jurisprudence Legal Forms
• AMJUR-PP – American Jurisprudence Pleading and
Practice Forms Annotated
• AMJUR-POF – American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts
• AMJUR-TRIALS – American Jurisprudence Trials
• AMJUR-POFTR – American Jurisprudence Proof of
Facts and Trials Combination
• AMJUR-ALL – includes all American Jurisprudence
databases
31

32. A SAMPLE AMJUR SEARCH ON WESTLAW
• Database: AMJUR-ALL
• Query: ti(“social host”/s
liab!)
• This Am Jur Proof of Fact document was retrieved
from the AMJUR-ALL database. Along with the text
and references to cases and other legal documents,
it contains sample interrogatories, checklists and
other practical legal materials.
32

33. CORPUS JURIS SECUNDUM (CJS)
• C.J.S. contains 400
broad topics, each
divided into subtopics,
which are sub-divided
into sections.
• There are 150 volumes.1
1 The last volume is numbered 101
because more than one volume
may have the same number,
such as 48A and 48B.
33

34. CORPUS JURIS SECUNDUM (CJS)
• Each section contains a brief,
“blackletter” statement of the
law, followed by a short
section of text.
• Footnotes reference federal
and state cases.
• C.J.S. cross references the
titles and sections to West
topics and key numbers and
other secondary sources.
34

35. CORPUS JURIS SECUNDUM (CJS)
• There is an annual multivolume General Index.
• Each volume has its own index.
• There are annual cumulative pocket supplements.
• Replacement volumes are issued periodically.
• Replacement volumes contain a Table of
Corresponding Sections that cross-references
replacement volumes with older volumes.
• Definitions of words and phrases are included with
appropriate sections and in the volume indexes.
• Corpus Juris Secundum is in the CJS database on
Westlaw.
35

36. • Portion of a CJS section under Civil Liability for
Injuries Resulting from Sale or Furnishing of Liquor
in the CJS database on westlaw.com
36

37. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
37

38. RESTATEMENTS OF THE LAW
• Restatements of the Law are written by
prominent legal scholars.
• Restatements must be formally adopted by the
members of the American Law Institute.
• Restatements are the attempt of the American Law
Institute to clarify the ever-increasing amount and
complexity of case law by clear, concise
restatements.
• More than any other secondary source,
Restatements are often accepted by the courts as
persuasive authority.
38

39. RESTATEMENTS OF THE LAW
• Restatements are divided into chapters,
then into narrower titles, and then into
numbered sections.
• Each section begins with a “blackletter”
statement of the law.
• The blackletter statement covers a fairly
broad issue.
• Sub-issues are often discussed in the
author’s Comments and Illustrations that
follow each statement. These comments
and illustrations are often cited by the
courts.
39

40. CURRENT RESTATEMENTS OF THE LAW
• Agency (Second)
• Prudent Investor Rule (Third)
• Apportionment of Liability (Third) • Restitution (First)
• Conflict of Law (Second)
• Security (First)
• Contracts (Second)
• Suretyship and Guaranty (Third)
• Foreign Relations (Third)
• Torts (Second)
• Judgments (Second)
• Trusts (Second)
• Law Governing Lawyers (Third)
• Unfair Competition (Third)
• Products Liability (Third)
• Wills and Donative Transfers
(Third)
• Property (Third)
40

41. RESTATEMENTS OF THE LAW
• Features of the Restatements include1
– Appendix volumes
• Instead of citing relevant cases, appendix volumes contain
summaries of cases that have cited each section of the
Restatement.
– Indexes
• Restatement, First Series, has a one-volume index to all
Restatements.
• Restatements, Second and Third Series, do not have a
comprehensive index.
– Some have subject index for each volume.
– Recent Restatements have an index in the last volume or in a
separate volume.
1
Features vary by series and by volume.
41

42. RESTATEMENTS OF THE LAW
• Features (continued)
– Reporter’s Notes are at the end of each section or in the
Appendix volumes of the agency, torts, and trust restatements.
– Recent volumes have cross-references to the West Key
Number System® and ALR annotations.
• Updating Restatements
– Drafts of new series are published in soft-cover format
– Cumulative annual supplements
– Interim case citation pamphlet
– Pocket parts
42

43. RESTATEMENTS DATABASES ON
WESTLAW
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
REST – all Restatements of the Law
REST-AGEN – Agency
REST-CONFL – Conflict of Laws
REST-CONTR – Contract Restatement
REST-FOREL – The Foreign Relations Law of the United
States
REST-JUDG – Judgments
REST-LGOVL – Law Governing Lawyers
PL-REST – Product Liability
REST-PROP – Property
REST-RESTI – Restitution
REST-SEC – Security and Suretyship and Guaranty
REST-TORT – Torts
REST-TRUST–Trusts
REST-UNCOM – Unfair Competition
43

44. TOC
• Online documents contain the text, comments, and
illustrations of the Restatement, Case Citations to
Restatements, Reporter’s Notes and Cross
References.
• A Table of Contents link on the Links for tab opens the
Table of Contents for the Restatement at the
Restatement section being displayed.
• Drafts of future series are included in the databases.
• Database: REST-TORT
Search: dram-shop /p “social host” /s liab!
44

45. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
45

46. LEGAL PERIODICALS
• Legal periodicals are published by many sources.
There are:
– Law School Reviews and Journals
– Bar Association Journals
– Legal Newspapers
– Topical and Special Interest Periodicals
– Newsletters
46

47. LAW REVIEWS AND JOURNALS
• are published by student-editors at law schools
• can be general or focus on a specific area of the law
• number of issues published per year varies by
publication
• often solicit lead articles from legal experts, generally
law professors, which usually address narrow legal
issues
• are often heavily footnoted
47

48. LAW REVIEWS AND JOURNALS
• Notes and Comments are written by student members
of the law review
– Notes usually are critical analysis of recent court cases or
new statutes.
– Comments are usually critiques on issues of current interest.
• Book reviews are included in some law review and
journal publications.
• All law reviews and journals are included in the JLR
(Journals and Law Reviews) database on Westlaw.
Each publication also has a separate database.
48

49. BAR ASSOCIATION PERIODICALS
• National, state, and local associations publish journals.
• ABA Journal is a leading bar journal.
• Bar association publications tend to emphasize more
practical aspects of the law and do not crusade to change
or criticize the law.
• These publications usually comment on recent legislation
and court cases.
49

50. LEGAL NEWSPAPERS
• These periodicals can be local, state or national in
scope.
• The best-known weekly newspapers are the
National Law Journal and Legal Times.
• American Lawyer is published monthly.
50

51. Database: LEGNEWSL
Search: “social host” /s liab!
• Newsletters
– are published mainly by commercial organizations and public
interest groups
– usually focus on a narrow area of the law
• brief reviews of current cases and legislative and agency actions
– tend to be highly practical and technical
– are valued because of their currency
– are often the only publications that discusses a new and
narrow topic
51

52. ACCESS TO ONLINE PERIODICALS
• Westlaw databases include
–
–
–
–
LEGALNP –Legal Newspapers
LEGNEWSL – Legal Newsletters Multi-base
JLR – law school law reviews and journals
TP-ALL – law reviews and journals, bar journals, other
periodicals, texts, and treatises
– Each periodical also has a separate database that can be
individually searched.
– Database: TP-ALL
Query: ti(“social host” /s liab!)
retrieves 86 articles, most with helpful text and crossreferences.
52

53. INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS (ILP)
• Originated in 1908
• Indexes approximately 600 English-language
periodicals
• Access
–
–
–
–
Author/Subject Index
Table of Cases
Table of Statutes
Book Review Index
Database: ILP
Query: ti(“social host” /s liab!)
• ILP database on Westlaw
(cannot be accessed by all law schools)
– can be searched using Terms & Connectors, Natural
Language, or Fields.
53

54. CURRENT LAW INDEX (CLI)
• Coverage begins in 1980
• Indexes approximately 850 worldwide legal
periodicals, including practice-oriented periodicals
• Titles are indexed in English
• Issued monthly, with quarterly and annual cumulative
issues
• Access
– Subject/Proper Name Index
– Author/Title Index
– Table of Cases
– Table of Statutes
54

55. LEGAL RESEARCH INDEX (LRI) & CURRENT
INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS (CILP)
• LRI is the online counterpart of CLI.
– Updated daily
– Contains law related newspapers and articles selected
from non-legal periodicals that are law related
• LRI database on Westlaw (cannot be accessed at
all law schools)
– Can be searched using Terms & Connectors, Natural
Language, and Fields.
• CILP database contains the eight most recent
weeks of the Current Index to Legal Periodicals.
55

56. USING KEYCITE TO LOCATE PERIODICALS
• KeyCite is Westlaw’s citation research service.
• KeyCite Citing References will list the periodical
articles that have cited a case, statute, federal
regulation, or federal administrative decision.
• You can jump directly to these periodicals from
KeyCite.
A portion of the Citing References for a
Supreme Court case, showing
references to citing periodicals.
56

57. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
57

58. TREATISES
• Treatises are:
– written by legal scholars
– printed in book form
– good resources for discussions of
cases and statutes relating to a
particular area of the law
– can be critical, analytical,
explanatory, or practical in nature
• Wright and Miller, Federal
Practice and Procedure;
Dobbs, The Law of Torts
58

59. TREATISES
• Treatises generally contain
–
–
–
–
–
Table of Contents
Table of Cases
Text
Index
Supplemental materials in the form of pocket
parts or looseleaf service
• Sources for locating treatises include
– Library catalogs
– Catalog of Current Law Titles by Ward and
Associates
– Index to Legal Periodicals, which added
books to its coverage in 1994
59

60. STUDENT TEXTS: HORNBOOKS
• are generally prepared for student
use
• are straightforward, clear, nonanalytical
presentations of the law
• clarify and organize the law in a given
area
• are very useful as case finders
– references to cases limited to landmark
cases
60

61. STUDENT TEXTS: CASEBOOKS
• present seminal cases and
subsequent and sometimes
seemingly conflicting cases
• contain little or no analysis
• encourage students to analyze case
law and draw their own conclusions
61

62. STUDENT TEXTS: NUTSHELLS
• Nutshells are paperback books designed to give a
quick overview of an area of the law.
• There are 118 titles in the
Nutshell Series.
• References to
primary law are limited.
• Nutshells are a good place to start research if you
know nothing about an area of the law.
62

63. PRACTICE GUIDES
• Designed for practitioners
• Usually confined to one jurisdiction
or area of the law
• Practice guides include
procedural manuals,
judicial desk books, form
books, and much more
63

64. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
64

65. BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY
• is the most widely used of a number of general
and specialized law dictionaries
• consists of one volume
• identifies words in the context of legal usage
• includes citations to court cases and other sources
of a legal definition
• includes a guide to pronunciation of Latin words
• includes a table of abbreviations
• has the database identifier BLACKS in Westlaw
65

66. WORDS AND PHRASES
• Multivolume series
• Gives only judicial definitions of words
and phrases, therefore is not a
complete dictionary
• Words and Phrases definitions can be
retrieved in any case law database
using a wp field search, such as:
wp(“social host”)
• Words and Phrases is also a separate
database
WORDS-PHRASES
66

67. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
67

68. UNIFORM LAWS
• The National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State
Laws drafts Uniform Laws and Model
Acts.
• The goal is to promote uniformity in
state law on subjects where
uniformity is desirable and practical.
• The National Conference designates
as a “Uniform Law” any act that has a
reasonable chance of enactment in a
substantial number of states.
68

69. UNIFORM LAWS
• The National Conference has approved more
than 200 acts and more than 100 have been
adopted by at least one state.
• Uniform Commercial Code has been enacted
in every state.
• Approved laws can be found in
– separate pamphlets
– the annual Handbook of the National Conference
– Uniform Laws Annotated, Master Edition, with
annual supplements
– ULA database on Westlaw
• Contains uniform laws and model acts
• Search: ci(“uniform commercial code”)
• Find command: ula ucc 2-201
69

70. MODEL ACTS
• An act that does not have a reasonable chance of
adoption by a substantial number of states is
designated a “Model Act.”
• The goal is to have some of the sections, but not all,
adopted or modified by some of the states.
• Both the National Commission and the American Law
Institute draft Model Acts.
• Model Business Corporation Act, Model Penal Code
• Model Acts can be located in
– Handbook of the National Conference
– Directory of Uniform Acts and Codes
– ULA database on Westlaw
70

71. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• ALR®
• Legal Encyclopedias (Am Jur®, C.J.S.®)
• Restatements of the Law
• Legal Periodicals
• Texts
• Law Dictionaries
• Uniform Laws
• Digest Paragraphs, Headnotes, and Statutory
Annotations
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72. HEADNOTES
• Cases as reproduced in the National Reporter System®
are a combination of primary and secondary authority.
• The opinion of the court is primary law.
• The editorial enhancements, such as the synopsis and
the headnotes, are secondary law, that are
– summaries of the opinion
– written by West attorney-editors
– written in universally recognized legal terminology in place of
outdated, slang, or regional words or proper names
• Both headnotes and key numbers are in the digest (di)
field in Westlaw case law databases.
• Database: any case law database
Search: di(“social host” /p liab!)
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73. DIGESTS
• A headnote is assigned to a West Key Number
reflecting a specific point of law.
• Digest paragraphs are headnotes from cases
arranged alphabetically by topic and then numerically
by Key Number.
• Digests ease the retrieval of cases in any jurisdiction
that have addressed the same point of law.
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74. STATUTORY ANNOTATIONS
• Annotations (Notes of Decisions) are summaries of
case law that has interpreted, explained, or analyzed
the language of a statute.
• They follow the text and research aids in statutory
materials.
• West statutory materials use the headnotes from
relevant cases to annotate a statute as published by
West.
• The annotations are secondary resources.
Do not cite the language of headnotes, digest
paragraphs, or annotations as primary law.
They are to be used only as a way to find relevant
cases.
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75. The language of the Digest Paragraph, the Case
Headnote and the Statutory Annotation is identical.
The language in the digest
paragraph that refers to the
Koehnen case.
The language of headnote
number 2 of the Koehnen case.
It references Minnesota statute
340A.801
The language of the annotation
to Minnesota Statute 340A.801
that refers to the Koehnen case.
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76. CONCLUSION
• Secondary sources can help you start your
research in an unfamiliar area of the law
–
–
–
–
Provide an overview of the law
supply correct legal terminology
raise related and relevant issues
reference relevant cases, statutes, and other authoritative
sources
– reference finding aids, such as key numbers
• Before drawing final conclusions, re-check
secondary sources to be certain you haven’t
missed
– a relevant primary source of law
– a relevant legal argument
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77. CONCLUSION
• If you have any questions regarding secondary
sources on Westlaw, please contact the West
Reference Attorneys.
• Reference Attorneys are available 24/7 and can be
reached by calling
1-800-850-WEST(9378)
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