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Cite-Checker's Guide: Cases

 

  1. Sample citation
  2. Abbreviations
  3. Federal cases
  4. State cases
  5. Finding cases by topic
  6. Finding a case by party name
  7. Shepardizing (updating)
  8. Records & Briefs
  9. Oral Arguments

This guide lists paper and microform sources only. Extra copies of some reporters are in microform in the Media Center. Some reporters for older cases can be found in microform.

For online sources of case law, consult:

    WESTLAW and LexisNexis.  WESTLAW has PDF images of the Supreme Court Reporter,  federal reporters, and the regional reporters from 1920 to the present. If you are using a computer on NYU Law School premises but you do not have a WESTLAW or LexisNexis password, use LexisNexis Academic.

    For free online sources of some federal cases, see also Gretchen Feltes, A Guide to the U.S. Federal Legal System: Web-Based Publicly Accessible Sources at http://www.llrx.com/features/us_fed.htm.

    HeinOnline provides PDF images of US Reports, 1754-2002, preliminary prints and slip opinions, available from the Indexes and Databases page. See also http://www.supremecourtus.gov for the latest slip opinions and PDF images from 1991 (v. 502).
    

SAMPLE CITATION:

100         A.2d             200      (N.J.             1975)
volume   reporter          page     jurisdiction    date of decision

     
ABBREVIATIONS:

    See the blue pages in the Bluebook for reporter names, dates and abbreviations for U.S. federal and state courts and some non-U.S. and international courts. Ask for the Bluebook at Circulation.

   Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
    Circulation and Reference   K246 .B46 2001

   World Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
    Reference K89 .K38 1991
    For non-U.S. case law, see other sections of this Cite-Checker's Guide: Finding Non-U.S. Law, Finding English Cases..., European Union, WTO, United Nations.
    

FEDERAL CASE REPORTERS:

   U.S. United States Reports (official)
    Bound volumes and preliminary prints   
    Balcony & Golieb  NYUL KA-A 6

   S. Ct. Supreme Court Reporter (West)
    Bound volumes and advance sheets
    Atrium, Golieb & Furman Hall  NYUL KA-A 62

   L. Ed. and L. Ed. 2d United States Supreme Court Reports
    Bound volumes and advance sheets
    Balcony & Golieb  NYUL KA-A 61

   F. Federal Reporter 1st series                                            
    Microform/Media Center  KA-A 66

   F.2d and F.3d Federal Reporter 2d and 3d Series
    Bound volumes and advance sheets
    Atrium and Golieb  NYUL KA-A 67
    
   F. Cas. Federal Cases                                                          
    Golieb  NYUL KA-A 65

   F. Supp. and F. Supp. 2d Federal Supplement 1st and 2d
    Atrium and Golieb  NYUL KA-A 68

   F.R.D. [West's] Federal Rules Decisions                         
    Lasdon Collection  NYUL KA-A 685      

   Bankruptcy Reporter [West's] Bankruptcy Reporter
    B1   KF1515.A2 W47

   T.C. [United States Tax Court] Reports                                   
    B1   KF6280.A2 T37

   T.C.M. Tax Court Memorandum Decisions / CCH
    B1   KF6280.A2 C6
    

STATE REPORTERS:
Many states no longer have official reporters and cases are published in unofficial reporters, or in the West Regional Reporter Series only. Some states have official and unofficial reporters. See the blue pages in the Bluebook for particular states.

Official state reporters. The library has official state reporters for all states that publish them. They are shelved with the state collections (other than NY) in the Golieb room. Some older state reporters can be found in microform in the Media Center.

West Regional Reporters. There are seven regional reporters (Atlantic, North Eastern, North Western, Pacific, Southern, South Eastern, South Western). A map in the front of each regional reporter volume shows  which states are in which region. The 2d series of the regionals are shelved in the MRR. The first series is available in microform in the Media Center. There are also specialized West reporters for New York (West's N.Y. Supp. in MRR) and California (West's Cal. Rptr. in Golieb).


FINDING CASES BY TOPIC:
If you do not already have citations to cases on your legal issue, use the following tools to search for cases by topic:

WESTLAW and LexisNexis provide online full-text searching of case files. If you are using a computer on NYU Law School premises but you do not have a WESTLAW or LexisNexis password, use LexisNexis Academic.

Digests are multi-volume West publications that summarize cases under a topical outline and provide the citation to the full case. Access to a digest is by broad topics (e.g., contracts, constitutional law, corporations), and sub-topics called "key numbers." Topics are arranged alphabetically in the digest volumes. The outline of key numbers can be found at the beginning of a topic. There is also a detailed keyword index in the last volume of the digest. In WESTLAW, it is possible to use the digest topics and key numbers as search terms.

Federal digests
United States Supreme Court Digest      Atrium and Furman Hall
[Lawyers' Edition]                                Balcony

Federal Practice Digest 3d and 4th         Atrium and Balcony
Federal Practice Digest 2d                     Golieb
earlier digests                                      Balcony

State digests
State digests for states other than NY are in the Golieb Room; West's NY Digests are in MRR and B2 South. The Law Library has up-to-date digests for these core jurisdictions:

  • California
  • Florida
  • Illinois
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Texas

    The General Digest covers all jurisdictions, state and federal.
Balcony

Annotated statutes/codes provide summaries and citations of cases that have construed particular laws. See Cite-Checker's Guide: Constitutions and Statutes.
    

FINDING A CASE BY PARTY NAME

Digests have "Table of Cases" volumes at the end of the set that allow you to look up a plaintiff or defendant name and find the citation to the case reporter.

WESTLAW and LexisNexis allow you to search the party names using a field or segment search.


"SHEPARDIZING" (UPDATING) CASES
You must verify the current validity of a case, i.e., has it been reversed, overruled, questioned, etc. Traditionally, Shepards Citators have been used for this process. The library has a few Shepards in paper, for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Federal Reporter, the Federal Supplements.

One should rely on  Shepards on LexisNexis and KeyCite on WESTLAW as the services for verification of a case's status.


RECORDS AND BRIEFS

U.S. Supreme Court, 168 U.S., 1897-
Microform/Media Center

Landmark Briefs and Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Golieb  NYUL KA-A 6b

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit,  1974- (with gaps)
Microform/Media Center

New York Court of Appeals, 1936-
Microform/Media Center


ORAL ARGUMENTS

The Complete Oral Arguments of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1953-.
Microform/Media Center
 

 
  
This page was updated August 16, 2007

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