The Paul Meek Library currently maintains several sets of court reporters and a number of titles which relate to them, such as digests, dictionaries, indexes, etc. Below are brief instructions on how to find a case and a bibliography of legal sources in the Reference Collection.

The Reference Department has three titles which report on cases brought before the Supreme Court of the United States, they are:

Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of the United States (REF. KF 101 .1 .U5 1926).

This title is often cited as "L.Ed." For a discussion see Bibliography below.

FINDING A U.S. SUPREME COURT CASE

U.S. Supreme Court cases are indexed in volumes 14 and 14A of the United States Supreme Court Digest (Ref. KF 101 .1 .U54). These volumes are case tables with litigants listed as plaintiff-defendant. Volume 15 is a case table with litigants reversed e.g. defendant-plaintiff. In order to locate a case by using these tables both litigants names should be known,

but sometimes just knowing one is sufficient. As an example, if the case to be researched is "Escobedo v. State of Illinois", go to the table of cases and look under "Escobedo" (the plaintiff). The entry for this case in the table will cite it in several reporters. For this particular case the Paul Meek Library has one source, West's Supreme Court Reporter (Ref. KF 101 .S9). This source is among those cited. The table cites it as 84 SCt 1758. "84" represents the volume number, "SCt" is an acronym or abbreviation for the reporter or title of the source ( in this instance the Supreme Court Reporter) and "1758" is the page number.

Most Supreme Court cases are cited from the United States Reports (Ref. KF 101 .U58). The "Escobedo" case is almost always cited "378 US 478". The Paul Meek Library does not have volume 378 of the United States Reports. Our set of the US Reports begins with volume 443 (October Term, 1978). Cases in earlier volumes can be found in West's Supreme Court Reporter. Below are examples of citations and where to search them.

Roe vs. Wade United States Supreme Court Digest, vols. 14-14A, Table of Cases. (REF. KF 101 .1.U54).

                                 The entry for "Roe v. Wade" will cite a number of sources which reported the case.    The library has               
                                 West's Supreme Court Reporter (Ref. KF 101 .S9), which is cited "SCt". The citation for "Roe..."
                                 will read 93 SCt 705. 93 is the volume, SCt is the standard abbreviation for Supreme Court Reporter,
                                 and 705 is the page number.

To find this case in West's Supreme Court Reporter (Ref. KF 101 .S9), check the spines of the volumes of the Reporter. At the middle of the spine is the volume number of the Supreme Court Reporter. Near the bottom of the spine are volume numbers of corresponding volumes of the United States Reports. For example, volume 93 of the Supreme Court Reporter has the numbers 409-413 U.S. imprinted near the base of the spine. This means that cases reported in 409-413 US are also reported in volume 93 of the Supreme Court Reporter. To find 410 US 113 in this volume consult the table "Supreme Court Reporter References" at the front of the book. This is a conversion table. It will match United States Reports volume and page numbers with corresponding Supreme Court Reporter volume and page numbers. 410 US 113 in the United States Reports becomes 93 SCt 705 in West's Supreme Court Reporter.

Subject indexes to U.S. Supreme Court decisions are included in the following titles:

United States Supreme Court Decisions: An Index to Excerpts, Reprints, and Discussions. 2nd. edition. (Ref. KF 101 .6 .G83 1983).

             An index to all Supreme Court opinions published from 1789 through the October, 1979 Term can be found in the                following title:

Supreme Court of the United States 1789-1980: An Index to Opinions Arranged by Justice.  (Ref. KF 101 .6 .B57 1983).

An excellent source on recent developments in the field of law is The United States Law Week (Ref. KF 65 U55X). Law Week is a two-volume set of loose-leaf materials and is updated weekly. Much of the material contained in the set is devoted to U.S. Supreme Court decisions and their impact on American law. Volume one contains a summary and analysis of current legal developments, new court decisions and federal agency rulings, and a topical index to the set.

Volume 2 contains Supreme Court Proceedings, which include: a journal, summary of orders of the Court, cases docketed, summary of cases recently filed, and a calendar of hearings scheduled. Supreme Court Opinions is another section of the volume. All sections are indexed by the Supreme Court Index at the back of volume 2. The Paul Meek Library's holdings of Law Week begin with Volume 51 (1982) and continue through the current year.

Sometimes called the "official reports" because they are published by the U. S. Government Printing Office. When Supreme Court reports are cited they are usually cited "U.S." which is the citation form used for cases reported in the United States Reports. The Paul Meek Library's hold- ings of this title begin with Volume 443 (1978) and continue through the current volume. Recent reports of the Supreme Court are issued as individual pamphlets called Slip Opinions (Gov. Docs. Ju 6. 8/B: vol/no.) The Slip Opinions are kept in the Government Documents Collection of the library. Ask for them at the Government Documents Counter or the Reference Desk. Cases are indexed in the United States Supreme Court Digest, Vols. 14 - 15 (Ref. KF 101 .1 .U54).

West's Supreme Court Reporter. (Ref. KF 101 .S9).

                    Begins coverage with the 1882 term of the Supreme Court (Volume 106 of the United States Reports).                       Cases are indexed in the United States Supreme Court Digest, Vols.14 - 15 (Ref. KF 101 .1 .U54).                       Cases in the Reporter are cited "SCt".

           Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of the United States. (Ref. KF101 .1. U5 1926).

                    Sometimes called the "Lawyers' Edition", these reports can be searched in the case tables of the Supreme                       Court Digest. Cited "LEd", the reports in this set are for the early years of the Court, corresponding to   
                    volumes 1 - 105 of the United States Reports. Coverage ends with the 1882 term of the Supreme Court
                    (Volume 105 of the United States Reports).

                    One of the better law dictionaries, Black's gives precise definitions and examples of use. It includes American,                       English, and Latin law words and terms. For this edition, over 5,000 terms have been added or revised.

                    Brief definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and associated legal terms. For definitions
                    consult Black's (above) or the next entry.

            Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. (Ref. KF 156 .G367 1995).

                    Good for practical guidelines on language and style.

            American Law Dictionary. (Ref. KF 156 .R46 1991).

                    Selected American legal terms and concepts defined and discussed in short essays.

            Fundamentals of Legal Research. (Ref. KF 240 .J32 1994).

This is the 6^th edition of a popular text on legal research. New to this edition are reference to and discussions of non-print sources of legal information, such as computer assisted research (CALR). There is a chapter devoted to the discussion of the latter and other databases such as WESTLAW and LEXUS and how to prepare search requests for them. The Internet and CD-ROM databases are also discussed. Fundamentals of Legal Research is a basic text for students learning to do legal research.

                    The Standard law dictionary, Black’s gives precise definitions and examples of use. It includes American, British                       and Latin law words and phrases. For this edition over 5,000 terms have been added or revised.