DEFINITION

• Legal Research is the process of locating an answer to an unknown legal problem or the determination that the legal conundrum presented is a "case of first impression" that has not been decided, codified or regulated.

• Legal information can be organized into two categories: primary law and secondary law.

• Primary law is binding as precedent under the doctrine of stare decisis. Primary law consists of statutes, regulations and case law.

• Secondary authority is not legally binding, but is an explanation of primary law and legal theory. Secondary law consists of legal encyclopedias, digests, law journals, treatises, hornbooks and the like.

• Because our legal system is based on precedent, i.e., upon decided cases, Legal Research is motivated by the necessity of finding what the courts have decided in the past when confronted with a set of facts.

• In addition to locating the primary law that addresses a legal issue, the legal researcher must determine whether or not the law has changed since it was added online or printed in a book. An attorney cannot base a legal argument on a case that has been overturned, a statute that has been repealed, or a regulation that has been amended.

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RELATED PRACTICE AREA:

Litigation & Appeals

BUZZWORDS

Case law - The collection of reported cases that interpret statutes, regulations, and constitutional provisions.

Decision - A judgment, decree, or order pronounced by a court in settlement of a controversy submitted to it.

Digest - An index to reported cases, providing brief statements of court holdings and facts of cases, which is arranged by subject and subdivided by jurisdiction, courts and date.

Headnote - A brief summary of a legal rule or significant facts in a case, which among other headnotes applicable to the case, precedes the printed opinion.

Hornbook - A book explaining the basics, fundamentals or rudiments of any branch of knowledge.

Opinion - The statement by a judge or court of the decision reached in regard to a cause tried or argued before them, expounding the law as applied to the case, and detailing the reasons upon which the judgment is based.

Parallel Citation - A citation reference to the same case printed in two or more different case reporters.

Precedent - A decided case that furnishes a basis for determining later cases involving similar facts or issues.

Regulation - A rule or order, having legal force, issued by an administrative agency or local government.

Stare Decisis - The doctrine of precedent, under which it is necessary for courts to follow earlier judicial decisions when the same points arise again in litigation.

Statute - A formal written enactment of a legislative body, whether federal, state, city, or county.