WHAT IS A STATUTE?

WHERE DO I FIND STATUTES?

WHICH STATUTES SHOULD I READ?

WHAT IS A STATUTE?

The word statute typically refers to a law passed by a state legislature or the U.S. Congress that commands, prohibits or declares something. It is sometimes called legislation.

State and federal court cases often involve statutory interpretation, and enactment of a statute may well reverse an established case law precedent. Nevertheless, it is easy to overlook the importance of statutes in law school because most law school discussions focus on case law.

The tools and techniques used to research statutes are similar to those used to research federal and state constitutions, treaties, administrative rules, executive orders, uniform laws, local charters and ordinances, and court rules. Statutory research may thus mean finding and analyzing any of these documents.

WHERE DO I FIND STATUTES?

Federal Statutes

After the U. S. Congress passes a bill and the president signs it into law, it is then codified, i.e., placed into the United States Code (USC), the official version of federal statutory law. The USC comprises 50 subject titles, many of which encompass several hardbound books. Titles are subdivided into chapters and sections. They also contain such elements as authority references, historical notes, enactment dates, cross-references, tables and an index.

Since 1927, West has published an annotated version of the USC, the United States Code Annotated® (USCA®). Each section of the USCA is followed by abstracts of published court decisions that have interpreted the section. The USCA and its indexes are updated more frequently than is the USC, with "pocket part" inserts and interim pamphlets issued throughout the year.

State Statutes

Like federal laws, laws passed by the legislatures of the 50 states and U.S. territories (e.g., Puerto Rico) are available in unannotated form. The laws are first published chronologically as "session laws" and later codified into the state legislative codes.

West publishes annotated codes for 22 states. Like the USCA, West annotated state statutes include cross-references to other state and federal statutes and administrative rules. They also provide historical notes; pertinent West topics and key numbers; references to law review and CJS® articles; and abstracts of court decisions, including those of the U.S. Supreme Court. West annotated statutes are updated annually with pocket part inserts.

Westlaw®

You can retrieve annotated or unannotated statutes on Westlaw, the computer-assisted legal research service from Thomson West. In addition, Westlaw gives you access to session laws, pending bills, legislative history and other research aids.

If you know the citation of a statute (typically consisting of the title and section numbers and the abbreviated name of the code), you can enter the citation and retrieve the statute.

KeyCite ®, West’s citation research service, is available for statutes. Use KeyCite to obtain the history of your statute as well as citing references. History includes pending legislation, credits, historical and statutory notes and links to session laws that amend or repeal your section. Citing references including pending legislation, citations to cases from USCA and state statute annotations, additional case citations, administrative materials and secondary sources.

WHICH STATUTES SHOULD I READ?

Your law professors have already determined which statutes you need to read in order to pass your exams. In the law office (including law school clinical programs and clerkships), however, finding statutes that govern a situation will be one of your most important responsibilities. It is likely that no one will identify the statutes you need to read. You will probably be given only a fact situation (and, if you’re lucky, a legal issue).

It will then be up to you to separate the small handful of relevant statutes from the library of irrelevant ones. You will want to find all federal and state constitutional provisions, code sections, administrative rules and local ordinances that pertain to your issue. The task may seem overwhelming.

Getting Started

Unless you are already familiar with the area(s) of law that pertain to your issue, you will need background information before you go to the statute. The following secondary sources are ideal for quickly familiarizing yourself with a topic, including legal terms commonly used in the area. In addition, they contain citations to important statutes.

Law Student Texts

Nutshells—Consider starting with an easy-to-read condensed text such as one of West’s Nutshell Series ® .

Hornbooks—For a more detailed treatment of the subject, go to one of West’s Hornbook Series  ® , e.g., Prosser and Keeton’s Hornbook on Torts, 5^th ed., or Friedenthal, Kane and Miller’s Hornbook on Civil Procedure, 3rd ed.

American Law Reports (ALR®) Annotations

After you have familiarized yourself with a legal topic, you might look for more detailed analysis in American Law Reports (ALR). ALR contains cases followed by exhaustive "annotations": encyclopedic essays on the general topic discussed in each case. These annotations are full of citations to cases and other materials, such as state and federal statutes. ALR is updated annually with supplementary inserts.

ALR is available in print and on Westlaw.

Annotated Statutes

Since your issue may be governed by state law, federal law or both, you will probably want to look for both federal and state statutes:

1. Look in the index of the USCA for references to statutes potentially relevant to your issue.
2. Read each statutory provision—both in the main volume and in the supplement—and record potentially valuable cross-references, law review citations, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) references and case annotations.
3. Follow all leads you found in step 2. Return to USCA if necessary.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 with the annotated code of your state jurisdiction, e.g., West’s Revised Code of Washington Annotated.

You can also use Westlaw to locate statutory materials. Consult the Westlaw Directory for statutory databases and their identifiers. Use the Table of Contents service or a statutory index database (e.g., USCA-IDX) for more leads. Alternatively (or in addition), you can search statutes directly for certain key terms. See the print publication Discovering Westlaw for details.

You can access Westlaw through WestMate® software or on the World Wide Web at lawschool.westlaw.com.