Case Law
Here you'll find suggestions for locating case law (law established by judicial decisions) at the state and federal level.
Subject Librarian for Law:
phone: 737-7318 | email: Valery.King[at]oregonstate.edu | AIM screen name: ValeryKing
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Case Law Reporters in the Valley Library
Internet Sources for Case Law
Electronic Journals
Indexes and Other Finding Tools in the Valley Library
| UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW DISCLAIMER: It is against state law for library staff to engage in any conduct that might constitute the unauthorized practice of law (ORS 9.160, 9.166 and 9.21). They may not interpret statutes, cases, or regulations, or advise patrons regarding their legal rights. They may, however, assist patrons in locating materials or links that would aid in individual research. |
How to Find the Law: Case Law
Case law means the legal interpretations contained in the decisions of courts as applied to a specific set of facts. Generally these decisions are collected in volumes called reporters. Reporters usually contain reports from appellate courts in specific geographic areas and specific jurisdictions. There are separate reporters for state courts and federal courts, and, as the legal field increases in complexity and specialization, there are a number of speciality or subject reporters.
Case Law Reporters in the Valley Library
| Abbrev. | Title | Coverage | Call. No. | OSU has: |
| U.S. | United States Reports | Supreme Court Decisions (Official) |
KF101 .U58
or LexisNexis |
vol. 284-date (1931-date) |
| S.Ct. | Supreme Court Reporter | Supreme Court Decisions (Unofficial) |
KF101 .A322 or LexisNexis | vol. 1-120 (1809-1999) |
| Fed. Cas. | Federal Cases | Important Federal Cases, 1789-1880 |
K .F295 | vol. 1-30 |
| F. F2d F3d |
Federal Reporter, 1st-3rd series | U.S. Courts of Appeals | KF105 .F432 or LexisNexis |
vol. 1-222 (3rd series) (1880-2000) |
| F. Supp. | Federal Supplement | U.S. District Courts, etc. | KF120 .F42 or LexisNexis |
vol. 1-108 (1932-2000) |
| Or. | Oregon Reports | Oregon Supreme Court (official) |
K .O78 or LexisNexis |
vol. 1-231 (1853-1964) |
| P. P2d P3d |
Pacific Reporter, 1st-3rd series | Oregon Supreme Court (unofficial) |
KF132 .P2 P32 or LexisNexis | vol. 1-46 (3rd series) (1884-1999) |
Other state reporters exist and you may sometimes see abbreviations for them. The best place to look for those citations is in LexisNexis Academic under Legal Research.
Internet Sources for Case Law
Supreme Court decisions from 1990-present as well as some Circuit Court and some States' Supreme Court decisions are available on the Internet. See Legal information on the Internet for a list of links to these decisions.
Electronic journals
There are several ways to access electronic journal subscriptions at OSU. You can browse by subject in E-journals--the Full Text Electronic Journal List. Law is included in the category "Law, Politics & Government" in the pull-down Browse e-journals by subject menu.
In addition, several of our databases offer full-text for some articles. The primary database for legal news and law reviews is LexisNexis Academic. Records in the OSU Libraries Catalog contain links to full-text electronic journal content.
Indexes and Other Finding Tools
in the Valley Library
- General and Decennial Digests
KF141 - Oregon Digest
KFO2457 .O71
Digests contain short case notes arranged alphabetically by legal subject and indexed by keywords.Also includes table of cases volume to locate citations by case name. - Shepard's U.S. Supreme Court Names Citator
Ref KF101.2 .S51
Allows you to retreive citation if you know the name of a case. - Shepard's United States Citations
KF101.2 .S53, KF101.2 .S54 or LexisNexis - Shepard's Pacific Reporter Citations
KF135 .P22 S529
Citation indexes list cases (and statutes) only by citation, not by case name. Once a citation is located in Shepard's, you can locate subsequent cases that cited the case of interest and can determine the current status of the case of interest. It can also be used to locate lower court opinions on the same case. - Corpus Juris Secundum (legal encyclopeida)
KF154 .C56 1936
Arranged by subject, in alphabetical order, CJS states a general principle of law, followed by exhaustive case references in footnotes. Use the general index if the subject you are looking for does not appear in the main volumes or if the subject is too broad to be easily covered. - Blue and White Book
K .P21 1928
Cross references citations for Oregon Reports and West's Pacific Reporter. - The bluebook : a uniform system of citation
Ref KF245 .B58
Guide to legal citations and abbreviations. Only latest edition is kept.
General Reference for Law
Oxford Reference Online Premium brings together reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource. The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. In Law, these include:
The Oxford
Companion to American Law
A Dictionary of Law
The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions
Return to the Alphabetical or Subject index of the Subject Research Guides.
