Preservation Law (HIPR 6200): The Law

Law, simply put, is the formal pronouncement of the rules which guide our actions. Legislatures, state and federal, make laws. So do local governments. Executive branches and agencies implement laws through regulations. Courts enforce and interpret laws and regulations and settle disputes through their decisions.

The output of these law making bodies goes into print and online resources. The material produced by these groups becomes much of what is in law libraries and what lawyers consult during their legal research. The collection of materials are referred to by specific terminology:

• Legislation (statutes, laws)
  • session laws, statutory codes
• Regulations
  • administrative codes, registers
• Court decisions or opinions
  • reports, reporter

Outline of the U.S. Legal System, Bureau of International Information Programs, United States Department of State (PDF)

So how does someone find the relevant law? How do you identify specific documents in these reporters and codes? First, keep in mind there is a great difference between retrieving a known document and researching or trying to find documents that help you answer a legal question. If you have a citation to a specific legal document like a statute or a court decision it is fairly easy to retrieve that specific document. [See the Citations tab.] Conducting actual legal research is much more complex. The legal publishing world has created a number of research aids:

• Indexes are common to most fields. In law they are generally used to locate journal articles.
• Legal encyclopedias function much the same way as a general encyclopedia.
• Digests are a unique legal research tool that acts like a cumulative index to all court decisions.
• Looseleaf services provide analysis, practice advice, and current updates to rapidly changing fields like tax and environmental law.
• Treatises provide a scholarly, in-depth treatment of a topic and they can be very in-depth. For instance one set covering just federal civil procedure runs to 26 volumes.

There are two kinds of "briefs". The appellate brief is written by an attorney and lays out a legal argument presented to an appellate court. The student brief is a short summary and analysis of the case to use in classroom discussion. When a professor says "I want you to brief Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)", he wants you to prepare a summary and analysis of the court's opinion and be ready to discuss the case.

• How to Brief a Case
• Materials for Success Preparing for Class
• Ten Instructions for Briefing Cases