Case reporters contain court decisions and come out chronologically. They are organized topically by Digests, which track every point of law to the West Topic & Key Number system. Print digests do not exist in Westlaw, but the Topic & Key Number system is very much alive. Lexis also uses headnotes to track cases. Words & Phrases is a tool for finding when court decisions have defined the meaning of a term.
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We still keep current digest editions in print. Always check the pocket part in the back of each volume for updates. These are free for use by the general public and practicing attorneys.
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Federal Location: Ground Floor (KF105 .F34) |
Missouri Location: Ground floor (KFM7841 .M52 ) |
Regional DigestUse the Pacific Digest for Kansas. There is also a separate Kansas Digest. Location: Ground floor (KF135 .P15 ) |
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Those seven main divisions became 34 subdivisions, which in turn were divided into 412 subdivisions or topics (now 363) that be came the West "Topics" of the Topic and Key Number System. The system has remained remarkably stable and has been one of the pillars of the West Publishing empire. See Frederick C. Hicks, Legal Research 233-34 (3d. 1942). In 1939, there were over 77,000 "sections" of the West classification scheme (See Uban A. Lavery, Finding the Law: Legal Classification in America - 1980-1940, 25 A.B.A. J. 383, 387 (1939). At that time, there are 1.75 million reported cases in the Digest System, with 25,000 being added each year, and 7 million headnotes. Id. at 383, n.3, 384. In about 2007, 55,000 cases a year were being added a year, with 100,000 "class distinctions." See Pau D. Callister, Law and Heidegger's Question Concerning Technology: Prolegomenon to Future Law Librarianship, 99 Law Libr. J. 285, 287, ¶ 6 (2006), https://irlaw.umkc.edu/faculty_works/22/. Even at the 1939 rate of 25,000 cases a year "digested" within West's Topic and Key Numbers system, there would be about 3.75 million cases in the system today. It is certainly well over that figure.
| Westlaw Command | Lexis Command | Action |
| /s | /s | same sentence |
| +s | pre/s | same sentence and order |
| not /s | not within same sentence | |
| /p | /p | same paragraph |
| +p | pre/p | same paragraph and order |
| not /p | not within same paragraph (approximately 75 words) | |
| /seg | within same segment (approximately 100 words) | |
| not /seg | not within same segment | |
| /[n] | /[n] | within n (1-255) terms of |
| +[n] | pre/[n] | same as above but in same order |
| not /[n] | not within number of words | |
| % | % | But not |
| [SPACE], OR | OR | OR |
| & | & | AND |
| ! | ! | Root expander (expands end of the word or root of a word) |
| * | * | replaces a single character (cannot start a word) |
| # | prefix to turn off plurals and equivalents | |
| atleastN(term) | atleastN(term) | find documents with at least N [number] of references to the term |
For example, suppose we wanted to find the California case in which the defendant beat up his girlfriend or wife resulting in the loss of the fetus and the court ruled that a fetus is not a human being nor the subject of a homicide or murder. We could search Westlaw's California state cases for:
((murder or homicide) /s fetus) & (fetus /s "human being") & ((wife or girlfriend) /p beat!)
Note the parentheses control the order of the search. The inner most parenthesis is done first. The search is for murder or homicide within the same sentence as fetus and fetus in same sentence as human being and wife or girlfriend within the same paragraph of beat, beats, beating, and beaten. Do you get Keeler v. Superior Court? Note that if you do the above search in Lexis and switch to Ravel view, it is easy to identify Keeler as the seminal case (even though a red stop sign or flag identifies it as overruled by statute--for a new crime of feticide).
Don't worry, if you ever forget these commands or need more information on special commands, they are usually located under advanced search or search tips. Google also has search commands at link. Cases can be searched on Google Scholar, at https://scholar.google.com. Searches can be limited by jurisdiction. Try "fetus is not a human being" in Google Scholar and see what you get and compare with the above.
Fields and segments vary according to what type of documents you are searching. Information can be found under the "I" (for information) for each database you search. For case law, in Westlaw,- the following are general fields for searching. You can find these in advanced search. We find the topic and synopsis fields to be particularly helpful.
To view Lexis "segments" click link.
Watch the following video to not just find cases, but find the best cases in your search. Always remember that jurisdiction is important in presenting cases in court.
FastCase is important because it comes with paying your Missouri Bar or Kansas Bar dues. It is linked on our databases page. FastCase also has some powerful tools for identifying the best cases. In the example below, an interactive timeline has been constructed. Rolling over Campbell v. Acuff reveals that cited 564 times in the database, with 221 citations having the same search terms "copyright & ('fair use' /10 transformative)." The height of the bubble indicates relevance to search terns. (Click to make bigger). FastCase does not yet appear to have state cases from the Sourthern District of Missouri.
Finally, secondary sources--commentary, encyclopedias, and ALR can help identify the best cases. Below is an example of using Nimmer on Copyright (Lexis) to find cases (follow the footnotes) on the best cases on transformative use in copyright law. For example, click on the image and search "ctrl f" to find how much discussion there is of the Cariou v. Prince decision.
Study the case below to see how Lexis lays out cases and provides helpful information.
Caution: Reading headnotes or summaries is no replacement for reading the entire actual decision of the case. Headnotes and summaries are produced by editors, not the Court. They are navigational aids only. Don't cite the headnote or summary in legal writing.
Star pagination (the asterisk) refers to page numbers of different reporters. Both Lexis and Westlaw use them. In this instance, one * refers to the Federal Reporter, ** refers to the U.S. Appellate Lexis electronic reporter, and *** to U.S. Patent Quarterly (see the first screen shot in this series). This can be helpful in citations in court briefs which might require citation to an official reporter or something other than Lexis or Westlaw.
Study the case below to see how Westlaw lays out cases and provides helpful information.
Caution: Reading headnotes or synopses is no replacement for reading the entire actual decision of the case. Headnotes and summaries are produced by editors, not the Court. They are navigational aids only. Don't cite the headnote or summary in legal writing.
Star pagination (*) ties the electronic version to one or more print versions in case reporters.
Case decisions may be reversed, overturned, criticized, questioned, followed, affirmed, etc. Checking a cases' status is known as citation analysis. There are systems in place on all the major research platforms to look for subsequent decisions that may affect the standing of an original case. On Westlaw, the system is known as KeyCite. On Lexis it is known as Shepard's. Bloomberg Law has BCite.
Below is a figure illustrating how to read a Westlaw Edge citation analysis (known as KeyCite) under cases "Negative Treatment" tab.
For a new Westlaw feature that uses AI to cases that have been indirectly overruled (and not cited in the overruling case), see KeyCite Overruling Risk.
Lexis offers the same general features as Westlaw, with indicators of how citing cases treat the main case, and colored indicators indicating whether those subsequent cases are still good law. Lexis' citation system is known as Shepard's. Lexis also offers a graphical representation of how cases are treated by subsequent cases in different jurisdictions.
Below is an example from BCite.
Caselaw Access Project (Harvard). This is a comprehensive caselaw reporter database. Missouri and Kansas have considerable coverage, including historical materials. Federal materials can also be searched.
Google Scholar. There is an option to search caselaw as well as articles.
Oyez.org has comprehensive coverage of Supreme Court Decisions.
The following problem comes from Beau Steenken & Tina Brooks, Sources of American Law: An Introduction to Legal Research (4th ed., CALI eLangdell Press 2019) (Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License)
Instead of Federal Practice Digest use Westlaw Topic & Keynumber System
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