Week 7 - Citing, Finding, & Reading Cases
Overview
This week we will continue learning some background information that will help you to find, cite, and read cases.
Cases, which is what we've been reading in the Making the Case textbook, are decisions written by judges--usually at the appellate level, meaning there was a trial and then someone appealed to an intermediary or final appellate court.
This content is normally taught in a full year course on legal research in law school. Here we will just review the basics--enough so you can locate cases and understand where they came from.
There is a lot of vocabulary used in legal cases that you will need to look up. Some of the terms you will need to understand when reading cases are:
- plaintiff
- defendant
- appellant or petitioner
- appellee or respondent
- motion for summary judgment
- motion to dismiss
- demurrer
- verdict
- damages
- affirm
- reverse
- remand
There are good online dictionaries such as Law.com's Legal Dictionary or Wex, published by the Legal Information Institute.
Reading & Resources
- Read this Lecture on Legal Citation.
- Watch this video on Citing Judicial Opinions.
- Watch these videos: "Finding Case Law Using Google Scholar" from the Library of Congress, and "Introduction to Reading Cases" from the Center on Innovation in Legal Education at the University of Utah.
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Activities
- Participate in a check-in Tuesday discussion in Bb.
- Complete these exercises on using Google Scholar to locate case law. (You're on your honor to complete on your own. Answers are included.)
- Participate in discussion 7.1 about locating and understanding legal cases.