BU Paralegal Certificate--Legal Research

Questions of law
Questions of fact

Federal and state, with federal being the higher of the 2.

Forefathers--Constitution
Executive--executive orders
Legislature--statutes (statutory)
Judicial--common or case law
Administrative agencies--administrative or regulatory laws

What is the jurisdiction (fed or state)
What law source is appropriate?

Common/case law, because if other kinds of law apply, chances are it will be mentioned in case law. But new laws from other sources will not have made it into case law yet, so not infallible.

If one of the federal sources of law applies, then start with federal. If no federal, then start with state.

1. "Subject matter" or "federal question" jurisdiction, meaning that there is a law from 1 of the 5 federal sources that applies.
2. "Diversity" jurisdiction, meaning that people from 2 states are involved and the damages are over $75,000

Matter can be pursued in both courts, but Federal court will hear and determine the facts of the case and apply both fed and state law.

When no federal law applies. Certain subjects, like family issues, are determined at the state level.

The plaintiffs initially determine the jurisdiction, since they are filing suit. Defendants, if they disagree, can file a motion to have the case removed to another jurisdiction.

Supreme Court
3rd Circuit Court (Court of Appeals)
US District Courts District of Eastern PA

Supreme Court
Commonweath Court and Superior Court
Common Please Courts
Special (local) courts-Phila Municipal & Traffic Courts

Trial court level--the first tier in both systems. Juries determine the facts of the case. Judges instruct them in the laws and ask them to apply them.

No. Once juries have determined the facts, of the case, they cannot be appealed. Only judges determinations of law can be appealed.

The US Supreme Court's authority to grant or deny a hearing to a case.

Grant cert is when the SC decides to hear a case.
Deny cert is when it decides not to hear it.

It publishes decisions made in the courts in the hierarchical structure. Organized chronologically. Each court has its own series.

Case Name (underlined or italics) Vol # Name of Repoter Series Page #
ex: Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113

Supreme Court--United States Reports
Circuit Court--Federal Reporter
District Courts--Federal Supplement

U.S.--United States Reports
F or F2d or F3d--Federal Reporter
F. Supp. or F. Supp. 2ds--Federal Supplement

Privately published reports of common/case law. The govt publishes them slowly, so these fill the gap. The numbers may be different, but they are just as good as the official reporter series.

Supreme Court Reporter and United States Supreme Court Reporter Lawyers’ Edition.

Collections of selected cases from groups of states (strange geography!)

Atlantic Reporter

Digests take the chronologically organized reporter series and place them into a general outline of legal topics. Alphabetically.

Each alphabetical topic is subdivided into topics, which are indicated by key numbers (K #). Each subtopic relates to (one or more?) case(s), which are described briefly.

At the end of each volume of a digest--alphabetical list of words relating to a particular topic. Helps you find your way to the right research topic.