Legal Research Basics

The statute is the law of the legislative branch of government. Statutes are enacted by the legislature of a state or by the U.S. Congress. Laws passed by county and city assemblies and commissions are usually referred to as county or municipal ordinances.

The official codes are not annotated. They are published by the legislative body involved and contain only the text of the laws. However, since they are the original and official source of the law, they should be cited to in your work. You should consult the annotated versions to find supporting legal material. Then, once you are ready to finalize your work, you confirm the official code citation and include that official citation in your memo, brief or other pleading.

Unlike the official codes, annotated codes are published by private companies such as Thomson/West and Lexis. Annotated codes provide you with case law interpreting the statutes, and contain other research references to additional materials that will definitely be helpful in your research.

• United States Code (USC) (KF62 [year] .A2)(on 2^nd Floor)
• United States Code Annotated (USCA) (KF62.5. W45)
• United States Code Service (USCS)(KF62 1972 .L38)
• Florida Statutes (KFF29 .F56) Available online here
• West’s Florida Statutes Annotated (F.S.A.) (KFF30 .A4)
• Florida Municipal Codes Online here

Courts produce two types of law. One is the Rules of Procedure that control how litigation is conducted within the court system. The second type of law, and the more consequential, are the judicial rulings interpreting the law and its application to the facts of the pending case. When those rulings are set out and published in a written opinion, it is referred to as "case law". Practitioners can cite to a case, and its holding, as controlling precedent in an analogous situation.

The written judicial opinions are published in print in a set of books called '"Reporters". Cases in the Reporters are ordered chronologically. National and regional reporters are produced by Westlaw and Lexis and can be searched online or found in the print collection. There are more general, federal and regional reporters published than should be listed here. The call numbers to the two sets of the Southern Reporter containing Florida cases and to the reporter for the county courts are,

• Southern Reporter (includes Florida) (KF135 .S8 S612)
• West's Florida Cases (from Southern Reporter) (KFF45 .F5)
• Florida Law Weekly (KFF60 .F56)

The reporters contain many volumes. There is no practical way to find a relevant case using just the reporters themselves. You should first obtain a case name or cite from a secondary source, or begin your search in a "Digest". Digests index the cases by topic, instead of by date. Digests are an important and very useful resource.

Westlaw and LexisAdvance also index and provide unpublished opinions online. These cases are not published in the Reporters. There is some argument as to their precedential value.

When conducting case research, start with the most recent case or citation you find and work your way back. The headnotes and background/syllabi are useful research tools and can point you to additional key terms or related cases.

The Federal court system Florida's court system

Administrative regulations are promulgated by the agencies of the executive branch of government. The primary source for locating federal regulations is the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). Rule-making information is published in the Federal Register (FR). The Code of Federal Regulations contains the current set of regulations and is organized by subject. The Federal Register is organized chronologically and contains public hearing information, and current and amended regulations, both final and as proposed.

Both these resources are available in print and can also be searched online at no cost at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/. As you might expect Lexis, and Westlaw provide coverage.

The Florida Administrative Code can also be found through Westlaw or Lexis, with actual annotations/links. The no-fee public option is via the state’s official site, https://www.flrules.org/. 

The call numbers for the printed formats are,

• Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (KF70 .A3)
• Federal Register (KF70 .A2)
• Florida Administrative Code (KFF35 .A26)

Administrative agencies also make binding rulings in quasi-judicial hearings.They are referred to as decisions. The decisions can be found in different sources, depending on the agency and jurisdiction. Don't hesitate to ask a librarian for help on that topic.

The federal system and Florida refer to their laws differently. The U.S. Code is divided into Titles, with parts, chapter and section subdivisions. Florida's common usage is to refer to the chapter, followed by statute sections and subsections.

Annotated Code and Statute titles contain the text of the laws and other "value added" material. That material often includes one or more volumes listing laws by their popular name, annotated constitutions, annotated court rules, books with other type of tables, and sometimes forms. The most useful aspect of an annotated statute is its listing of decisions where the statute was mentioned.

Here are the different portions of a typical statute as it appears in the Florida Statutes Annotated.

A case as printed in a reporter has several parts. You need to recognize those parts. You also need to gain enough experience in reading and analyzing cases to quickly know which section is important for your particular research problem. You can then decide whether the case is worthwhile to conduct further research and determine whether the case should be included in your final work product.

The most common parts of a case can be seen in the following sections...

The following maps illustrate the geographic areas for the reporters and the courts and provide related links.

• Regional Reporters Map
• U.S. Federal Court of Appeals Map
• Florida Courts of Appeal Map
• Florida Judicial Circuits Map

Reading and understanding a legal opinion can be difficult. The article below by  Orin S. Kerr, "How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students"  is an excellent introduction to understanding the format and common terms found in a legal opinion.

• How to Read a Legal Opinion
  This essay is designed to help new law students prepare for the first few weeks of class. It explains what judicial opinions are, how they are structured, and what law students should look for when reading them.