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Corpus Juris Secundum: A Legal Encyclopedia

Corpus Juris Secundum is an encyclopedia that uses American case law (federal and state) to provide an overview of almost all areas of law. The encyclopedia is available in print in the University Library's Reference Law Collection, on the south side of the 2nd (main) floor at Ref KF65 .M3. The encyclopedia's articles may include references to statutory law and definitions of legal terms in addition to references to court cases.

Another legal encyclopedia is available online: American Jurisprudence 2d (Westlaw Campus Research) - UWW access only
Click on GO at the bottom of the Agreement with "I Agree" selected. Type search term(s) into the "Search for:" box, then select American Jurisprudence 2d under "Encyclopedias and Law Reviews."

Table of Contents:

Find encyclopedia articles | Find cited cases | Check the current status of cited cases | Find other cited materials

cjs flowchart

Numbered stages in the following flowchart correspond to the steps listed below:

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Find encyclopedia articles on a legal topic

  1. Look up a subject in the General Index volumes to find relevant legal topics and subtopics under which articles are found in the subject volumes. Topics are broad areas of law which are broken down into numbered subtopics (sections ?) that deal with specific aspects of the broader topic, e.g.,

    CRIMINAL LAW ? 1 Alibi

  2. Find the legal topics and numbered subtopics in the subject volumes. Other relevant subtopics may be found by scanning the outline at the beginning of each broad topic. When reading the article(s), note any pertinent court cases (or other legal authorities) cited in the footnotes of the article, e.g.,
    80 L.Ed. 1160 (U.S. Supreme Court)
    40 F. SUPP. 654 (District Court)
    92 P. 2d 470 (State Court)

Find cited cases on the legal topic

  1. Look up the cited cases in the National Reporter System, or in one of the online legal research databases:

     

  2. Find citations to related cases within the text or footnotes. Also, note the topic and subtopic (section) number from the headnotes of a case, e.g.,

    MASTER AND SERVANT ? 69

  3. Look up the topic and subtopic number (called the "key number" in digests) in the General Digest or digest for the desired level of court and select related cases from the listing. The same topic and key number can be looked up in any digest series.
    Note: The University Library has discontinued most digest subscriptions in paper. For more recent cases, use keyword searches in either of the online legal research databases (LexisNexis Academic or Westlaw Campus).
  4. Copy citations to pertinent cases from the digest, and look them up in the National Reporter System, or in one of the online legal research databases:

Check the current status of cases

  1. Find cases which cite, affirm, modify, or overturn a known case or law by finding the known citation in the appropriate Shepard citator or by using KeyCite in the Westlaw Campus Research database.
    • Shepard's: Each Shepard citator entry cites later cases in the National Reporter System. Legal Research in a Nutshell (Ref KF240 .C54) has instructions for Shepardizing. Shepard citators also list citations to American Law Reports and American Jurisprudence (citations to older materials are available in the University Library's print Reference Law Collection; more recent materials are online as part of the Westlaw Campus database.
      Note: The University Library has discontinued all Shepard's subscriptions in paper. Only Shepard's for U.S. Supreme Court cases is available via the LexisNexis Academic database - UWW access only

    • KeyCite: KeyCite is available through the Westlaw Campus Research database, covering all federal and state cases in the National Reporter System as well as statutes. For cases it provides a history of the case and notes negative treatment, e.g., a red flag indicates that on at least one point the case has been overturned or overruled. KeyCite also lists citing materials such as law review articles.

Find other cited materials

  1. American Law Reports, for example, are available in print in the University Library's Reference Law Collection as well as online in the Westlaw Campus Research database.

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LOCATION OF LAW BOOKS IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Law books are shelved by the south wall of the reference room. Classification numbers for law books referred to in this guide are listed below. Remember that almost all digests, reporters, and Shepard's sets are no longer received in paper format by the University Library.

Corpus Juris Secundum Ref KF65 .M3

West's General Digest and Decennial Digest Ref KF141 (indexes to cases in other West's National Reporters)

All federal courts:

West's Federal Practice Digest Ref KF105 .W4

Supreme Court level:

U.S. Supreme Court Reports Ref KF101 .U5; Digest Ref KF101.1 .U5; Shepard's U.S. Citations Ref KF101.2 S57x

Circuit and District Court level:

West's Federal Reporter 1st & 2d Ref KF105 .F4

West's Federal Supplement Ref KF105 .F42

Shepard's Federal Citations Ref KF105.2 .S42

State Appellate Courts:

West's Atlantic Reporter 1st & 2d Ref KF135 .A7A7; Digest (to 1992) Ref KF135 .A7W4; Shepard's Atlantic Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .A72S5

West's North Eastern Reporter 1st & 2d Ref KF135 .N6N12; Digest (to 1970) Ref KF135 .N6N2; Shepard's North Eastern Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .N62S5

West's North Western Reporter 1st & 2d Ref KF135 .N7N12; Digest Ref KF135 .N72W4; Shepard's North Western Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .N721S5

West's Pacific Reporter 2d Ref KF135 .P2P2; Digest (to 1992) Ref KF135 .P21W424; Shepard's Pacific Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .P22S53

West's South Eastern Reporter 2d Ref KF135 .S6S12; Digest (to 1992) Ref KF135 .S6S235; Shepard's South Eastern Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .S62S45

West's South Western Reporter 2d Ref KF135 .S7S12; Shepard's South Western Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .S72S45x

West's Southern Reporter 2d Ref KF135 .S8S12; Digest (to 1988) Ref KF135 .S8S2; Shepard's Southern Reporter Citations Ref KF135 .S82S5

West's California Reporter Ref KFC41 .W4; Shepard's California Reporter Citations Ref KFC59 .S45

West's New York Supplement 2d Ref KFN5040 .N5N52; Shepard's New York Supplement Citations Ref KFN5045.2 .S56

Last revised: BRB - August 10, 2007

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