RESEARCHING A LEGAL ISSUE

RETRIEVING A DOCUMENT WHEN YOU KNOW ITS CITATION

SEARCHING WITH TOPIC AND KEY NUMBERS

USING THE KEY NUMBERS CENTER

SELECTED PROPERTY LAW DATABASES

SEARCHING LAW REVIEWS

SEARCHING AMERICAN LAW REPORTS (ALR)

SEARCHING RESTATEMENTS

CHECKING CITATIONS

Use this as a quick reference when accessing Westlaw to supplement property law lectures and reading assignments. Westlaw is West’s computer-assisted legal research service. Westlaw complements your book research by enabling you to quickly and efficiently retrieve information that is not yet available in print or that may be cumbersome to find using books. With Westlaw you can retrieve relevant documents whether you are starting with a citation, an issue of law or an unusual fact pattern. For more detailed information on lawschool.westlaw.com, refer to Discovering Westlaw: The Essential Guide, or see your West Online academic account manager or student representative about attending a Westlaw training session.

RESEARCHING A LEGAL ISSUE

There are two search methods you can use to research an issue on Westlaw.

Natural Language Search Method (WIN®)

Suppose you are researching whether a tenant is liable for rent after the premises become uninhabitable. WIN allows you to enter a description of your issue in plain English, or Natural Language. To search for documents using WIN, complete the following steps:

1. At the Start Menu, type a database identifier in the Search a database text box and click GO. For a list of selected databases relating to property law, see the reverse side of this card.
2. Select Natural Language in the Search type box.
3. Type a description of your issue in the Type a description text box and click Run Search. For example, type is a tenant liable for rent after the premises become uninhabitable.

Suppose you are researching the issue of easements by implication or necessity to gain access to property. Terms and Connectors searching allows you to enter a query consisting of key terms from your issue and connectors specifying the relationship between those terms. To search for documents using the Terms and Connectors search method, complete the following steps:

1. At the Start Menu, type a database identifier in the Search a database text box and click GO. For a list of selected databases relating to property law, see the reverse side of this card.
2. Select Terms & Connectors in the Search type box.
3. Type your query in the Type a query text box and click Run Search. For example, type easement /s impl! necessity /p access!

Use Find to retrieve a case, statute or law review article when you know its citation.

At the Start Menu, type your citation in the Find a document text box and click GO. For example, type 98 sct 2646 or 1989 wis l rev 925. Your document is displayed in the right frame; context-sensitive Information Tabs are displayed in the left frame.

SEARCHING WITH TOPIC AND KEY NUMBERS

Each legal issue in a case published by West is identified, summarized and assigned a topic and key number by West attorney-editors. West topic and key numbers help you focus your research and retrieve relevant cases.

To run a topic and key number search, access an appropriate database and type the topic number, the letter k and the key number. For example, to search for cases containing topic 373, Tenancy in Common, and key number 3, Creation of cotenancy, type 373k3.

You can find topic and key numbers in case law headnotes, West’s digests and the online Key Number Center.

USING THE KEY NUMBER CENTER

The Key Number Center on Westlaw contains the entire West Digest System topic and key number outline. To access the Key Number Center, click Key Number Center at the Start Menu or click Tasks on the toolbar and choose Key Number Center from the menu. Click the plus symbol (+) next to a specific topic to view an outline of that topic and locate key numbers to assist you in your research.

Here are some topics that may be useful in researching property law:

20 Adverse Possession

108 Covenants

141 Easements

148 Eminent Domain

185 Frauds, Statute of

226 Joint Tenancy

233 Landlord and Tenant

298 Perpetuities

315 Property

333 Remainders

338 Reversions

373 Tenancy in Common

404 Waste

SELECTED PROPERTY LAW DATABASES

	Database Name	Identifier
Cases	Multistate Real Property Cases	MRP-CS
	Individual State Real Property Cases	XXRP-CS (where XX is a state’s two-letter postal abbreviation)
Law Reviews and Texts	Real Property–Law Reviews, Texts & Bar Journals	RP-TP
	PLI Real Estate Law and Practice Course Handbook Series	PLI-REAL
	Real Estate Law Journal (Warren, Gorham & Lamont)	WGL-RELJ
	Real Estate Law Report (Warren, Gorham & Lamont)	WGL-RELR
	Restatement of the Law–Property	REST-PROP
	The Rutter Group–California Practice Guide: Landlord-Tenant	TRG-CALANDTEN
	The Rutter Group–California Practice Guide: Real Property Transactions	TRG-CAPROP
News and Highlights	Real Property News	RPNEWS
	Westlaw Topical Highlights–Real Property	WTH-RP

 

SEARCHING LAW REVIEWS

Recent law review articles are often the best place to begin researching a legal issue because law review articles serve

• as an introduction to a new topic or review of a topic with which you are familiar, providing terminology to help you formulate a query;
• as a tool for retrieving pertinent primary authority, such as cases and statutes; and
• in some instances, as persuasive secondary authority.

1. Access the Real Property–Law Reviews, Texts & Bar Journals database (RP-TP).
2. Type a Natural Language description like the following: are zoning ordinances takings under the fifth amendment
3. Click Run Search.

Search the ALR database to find a thorough discussion of case law relating to a particular legal issue. Attorneys who write ALR articles have already analyzed all available American cases on the issue and have prepared a detailed discussion of the legal principles deduced from the cases. You can search ALR using either the Natural Language or the Terms and Connectors search method.

To browse the ALR index, complete the following steps:

1. Access the ALR database (ALR) and choose the Terms and Connectors search method.
2. Type ci(index) and click Run Search.

Westlaw contains the full text of the American Law Institute’s current Restatements of the Law. Restatement of the Law–Property analyzes current property law and explains the most accepted interpretations given by the courts. It also looks at the direction in which property law is moving.

To view the table of contents for the Restatement of the Law–Property, complete the following steps:

1. Access the Restatement of the Law–Property database (REST-PROP) and choose the Terms and Connectors search method.
2. Type ci(contents) and click Run Search.

CHECKING YOUR CITATIONS

KeyCite®—Use KeyCite, the citation research service from West, to see whether your case or statute is good law. KeyCite integrates all the case law on Westlaw, helping you trace the history of a case, retrieve a list of all cases and selected secondary sources that cite a case, and track legal issues decided in a case. KeyCite for statutes displays credits and historical and statutory notes, along with pending legislation that may affect your statute. It also lists cases and secondary sources that cite your statute.

To check a citation in KeyCite, type your citation in the KeyCite a citation text box at the Start Menu and click GO. The history of the case or statute you are viewing is displayed in the left frame. To see citing references click the KC Citations tab.

WestCheck®—You can use WestCheck to automatically check your citations in KeyCite on Westlaw. You can also check quotations in your brief or other documents using the QuoteRight™ feature of WestCheck.