MIAMI UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION & LAW DEPT.
RESEARCHING COURT DECISIONS
MiamiLINK | Finding a Copy of a Specific Court Decision
| Book and Reference Sources | Finding Other Court Decisions | Finding
Law Review (Journal) Articles | Advanced Techniques | Getting Help
I. MIAMILINK http://www.lib.muohio.edu/
The Libraries' Web information system. Provides access to the Libraries' book catalog, Ohio-wide library
catalog (OhioLINK), periodical article indexes, full-text databases, and Internet resources.
II. FINDING A COPY OF A SPECIFIC COURT DECISION
CITATIONS
All court decisions have unique citations that indicate what book(s) the decision has been published in. Citations
to published copies of court decisions consist of a number, followed by an abbreviation, followed by another number.
The abbreviation stands for the title of a set of law books. The first number is the volume in that set; the last
number is the page in that volume where the decision begins.
Example: Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200, 132 L.Ed. 2d 158, 115 S.Ct. 2097 (1995)
PAPER COPY: Government Law Collection, King Library, basement
The Adarand case can be found in any of the following law books as indicated by the above citations:
Vol. 515, United States Reports, p. 200 (LAW KF 101 .A212)
Vol. 132, United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers Edition, 2nd series, p. 158
(LAW KF 101 .A313)
Vol. 115, Supreme Court Reporter, p. 2087 (LAW KF 101 .A322)
Other major court case reporters in the Law Collection include Federal Reporter (F.2d, F.3d) (LAW KF 105 .F432), Federal
Supplement (F.Supp, F.Supp2d) (LAW KF 120 .F42), and Northeastern Reporter (N.E.2d) (LAW KF 135 .N6).
VIEW ONLINE: LexisNexis Legal Research (MiamiLINK - Research by Subject- Law)
Choose Get a Case.
Click on the Citation box circle and type the citation in the box (include periods).
Click on search button.
When the results list appears, click on the case name to view the entire decision.
(Note: There is also an option to search by case name)
III. BOOK AND REFERENCE RESOURCES
Government Reference Collection, King Library, Basement:
West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Gov Ref KF 154 .W47 1998 v.1-12
Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov Ref KF 8742 .W567 1997 v.1-2
Black's Law Dictionary. Gov Ref KF 156 .B53 1999
Government Law Collection, King Library, Basement:
American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur) LAW KF 154 .A42
Corpus Juris Secundum ( CJS) LAW KF 154 .C56
Ohio Jurisprudence 3rd (OJur) LAW KFO 65 .035 1977
Legal encyclopedias. Detailed subject category breakdown of law with brief statement of general principle for each
topic and footnotes to selected court decisions. Consult pocket supplements in the back of each volume for the
latest cases. References to state cases other than those found in Northeastern Reporter (NE) may be available
on LexisNexis Legal Research .
American Law Reports (ALR) LAW KF 132
Extensive annotations on specific legal topics with case listings. For indexes use these titles at the end: ALR
3d & 4th Quick Index, ALR Digest to 3d-4th-5th-Federal, or Index to Annotations. ALR 3d and
ALR 4th are in the Law Collection. ALR 2d is in the SW Depository (regional storage facility). Volumes can be requested
but take a few days to arrive. We do not have ALR Federal. Consult pocket supplements in the front or back
of volumes for latest cases. Subscription is not current so no updates or new volumes have been received since
1992. References to state cases other than those found in Northeastern Reporter (NE) may be available
on LexisNexis Legal Research .
King book collection (2nd floor):
Search the Library catalog (MiamiLINK). Choose a subject search and type in the following:
[your subject] law and legislation united states cases (Also try leaving out the word cases)
Example: abortion law and legislation united states cases
Search the OhioLINK catalog (MiamiLINK/Catalogs or jump to a "statewide search" from Miami catalog results) for additional books not owned by Miami but available at other Ohio colleges
and universities. If the status is "available" books can be requested online and will be sent to King,
usually within a few days.
IV. FINDING OTHER COURT DECISIONS
LexisNexis Legal Research (MiamiLINK- Research by Subject- Law)
Search full-text federal or state court decisions online. Choose Federal Case Law or State Case Law.
Method 1: search for cases that mention (cite) a significant decision on your topic. For example, to locate supreme
court decisions that mention the Adarand case, type the following in the first keyword box: adarand w/5 pena.
Then select supreme court cases in the court box. Select a date range. Click on the search button.
Method 2: enter topic keywords in the keyword search box(es). For example, type affirmative action in the
first box. For a more specific search type additional keywords in the second box, such as colleges or universities.
Select a court and a date range. Click on the search button.
V. FINDING LAW REVIEW (JOURNAL) ARTICLES
1. LexisNexis Legal Research (MiamiLINK- Research by Subject- Law)
Search full-text law reviews online. Choose Legal Research from the main menu. Then choose Law Reviews.
The same two methods listed under II above work, except you do not need to select a court.
A more precise method: Click on the "More Options" tab. To search for mentions of a specific case enter
the first party name in the first box (for example, adarand). Click on the "full text" box and
change it to "At Least 3" (for at least 3 mentions). Click on the "and" box at the beginning
of the second line and change it to "w/5." Type the second party name in the next box (example, pena)
and change the following box to "At Least 3." Select a date range and click the search button.
A topic search may be done similarly, except leave the "and" box set to "and" or try one of
the broader "w/" connectors.
2. INDEX TO LEGAL PERIODICALS (MiamiLINK- Research by Subject - Law)
Online index, but doesn't include full-text. Gives references to articles and will tell you whether Miami owns
the journal or not. Journals owned are usually in King, 1st floor, shelved alphabetically by the journal title.
Many of the journals are not owned. Copies of articles not owned can be requested via Interlibrary Loan. (MiamiLINK
- Services & Information column - Interlibrary Loan) but this may take as long as three weeks. If you want to use
Interlibrary Loan, you will need to plan ahead.
Method 1: To search for mentions of a specific case type the party names in the first box with no words in between
(example, adarand pena). Change the "This exact phrase" box to "All of these words (AND)."
Click on the search button. You will get a list of articles (if there are any). Click on any article to learn more
about it. To determine if Miami owns it, click on "Check Availability" in the right menu box. A holdings
box will open. If Miami owns the journal there will be a yellow box at the top giving the library location and
the volumes/years owned.
Method 2: To search by topic type keyword(s) in the first box. Change the "This exact phrase" box if
appropriate. Click on search button.
VI. ADVANCED TECHNIQUES
WEST KEY NUMBER SYSTEM
1. Locate a printed copy of a significant decision on your topic in one of the West reporters located in the Documents
Dept. Law Collection, such as Supreme Court Reporter (SCt) for U.S. supreme court decisions.
2. Examine the key number paragraphs at the beginning of the decision. Select one or two topics and key numbers
that best describe the topic you are researching.
3. Go to a West digest also in the Law Collection. Use Supreme Court Digest to locate related supreme court
decisions, Federal Practice Digest for full coverage of all federal courts, or Ohio Digest for Ohio
decisions.
4. Look up the topic and key number in the digest (the set is arranged alphabetically by topic, then by key number
within each topic) for a list of other cases that have been assigned that same topic and key number and therefore
involve the same legal principle.
5. Note the citations of decisions of interest and look them up in the appropriate reporter or on LexisNexis Legal Research.
SHEPARD'S
What Shepard's does:
Validates, or cite-checks, a case to determine whether it is still good law, e.g., whether its value as precedent
has been affected by a later court decision or legislative action.
Locates a comprehensive listing of additional cases and other authorities that have cited your case, including
annotations and law-review articles.
1. Begin with a citation to a significant decision on your topic.
2. If it is a U.S. Supreme Court decision, use the Shepard's for U.S. Supreme Court option on LexisNexis Legal Research. Type in the first number of the citation, select the abbreviation from the box, and type in the
last number in the citation. Click on the search button. You will get a list of all other cases that cite (mention)
the case you entered. The prior history section lists the lower court decisions for the case you entered. All the
other listings are later, different cases that mention your case. Listings are grouped by court, from the highest
to lowest. All the supreme court decisions that mention your case are listed first, followed by appellate courts,
and so on down the line to state courts and, finally, journal articles.
3. For other federal decisions or Ohio decisions, use the print Shepard's Federal Citations (LAW KF 105.2 .S42 2006) or Shepard's
Ohio Citations (LAW KFO 59 .S5) sets in the Government & Law Dept. Law Collection.
VII. GETTING HELP
Government Help Desk, Government Information & Law Dept., Basement
For help with the Law Collection and LexisNexis Legal Research.
Monday - Thursday 9:00am - 5:00pm, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Sunday 1:00pm - 5:00pm, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
King Information Desk or King Research Help, 1st floor
For help with locating books and articles and using MiamiLINK.
Help Desk and Consultation Services Hours
Help via Email or Chat -- MiamiLINK/Get Help