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Finding a Case by Citation
*Westlaw and Loislaw are available to MSLAW students
and faculty.
See Online Legal
Research for information about access.
READING THE CASE CITATION
Cases can be published in both official and unofficial
case reporters. Therefore, the same case
may have more than one citation and may be found
in more than one place. State cases are
usually found both in an official state reporter
and an unofficial regional reporter.
Courts generally require that citations to cases
be given to the official case report. Reporter
names are abbreviated in case citations.
Official citation
| Com v. Sheehy, |
412 |
Mass. |
235 |
(1992). |
|
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
|
Case Name |
Volume |
Reporter |
Initial
pg. |
Year |
Unofficial Citation
| Com v. Sheehy, |
588 |
N.E.2d |
10 |
(Mass. |
1992). |
|
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
¯ |
|
Case Name |
Volume |
Reporter |
Initial
pg. |
Court
& Jurisdiction |
Year |
PRINT
Finding the reporter
The following table contains
information about some reporters commonly used
in the IRC. If you cannot find the abbreviation
you need listed below, ask at the reference desk
for assistance, or consult a list of abbreviations
such as Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
(located behind the reference desk).
|
Abbreviation |
Name |
Jurisdiction or Courts Covered |
IRC
Shelf # |
|
U.S. (official) |
United
States Reports |
United
States Supreme Court |
13 |
|
S. Ct.
(unofficial) |
Supreme
Court Reports |
United
States Supreme Court |
15 |
|
L. Ed.
(unofficial) |
Supreme
Court Lawyers’ Edition |
United
States Supreme Court |
14 |
|
F., F.
2d, F. 3d |
Federal
Reporter |
Federal
Appellate Courts |
15-16 |
|
F. Supp. |
Federal
Supplement |
Federal
District and Specialized Courts |
18 |
|
A., A. 2d (unofficial) |
Atlantic
Reporter |
CT, NH,
DE, NJ, DC, PA, MD, RI, VT |
9 |
|
N.E.,
N.E. 2d (unofficial) |
Northeastern
Reporter |
IL, IN,
MA, NY, OH |
9-10 |
|
N.W.,
N.W. 2d (unofficial) |
Northwestern
Reporter |
IA, NE,
MI, WI, MN, SD, ND |
10 |
|
P., P.
2d (unofficial) |
Pacific
Reporter |
AZ, KS,
OK, MT, OR, CO, NV, UT, NM, WA, WY, ID,
HI, AK, CA |
10-11 |
|
S.E.,
S.E., 2d (unofficial) |
Southeastern
Reporter |
GA, SC,
NC, VA, WV |
11 |
|
S.W.,
S.W.2d (unofficial) |
Southwestern
Reporter |
AR, MO,
KY, TN, TX |
12 |
|
S., S.
2d (unofficial) |
Southern
Reporter |
AL, FL,
LA, MS |
12 |
|
Mass.
(official) |
Massachusetts
Reports |
Mass.
Supreme Court |
4-5 |
|
Mass.
App. Ct. (official) |
Massachusetts
Appeals Court Reports |
Mass.
Appeals Court |
6 |
|
Mass. App. Div. (official)
|
Massachusetts Appellate Division
Reporter |
Mass. District Court, Appellate
Division |
6 |
|
Mass. Law Rptr. (unofficial)
|
Massachusetts Law Reporter
|
Mass. Superior Court
|
Reserve Desk |
|
LCR (unofficial)
|
Land Court Reporter
|
Mass. Land Court |
Reserve Desk |
Finding the case
Once you have located the correct
set of reporters, locate the correct volume and
page number by referring to the case citation.
WESTLAW
Use the “Find” command to retrieve
a case using a citation.
-
On
westlaw.com opening screen, type your
citation in the "Find" box and then
press "Go."
-
"Find" is available
from anywhere in Westlaw. Click on the
Westlaw file folder tab and then choose "Find."
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"Find" will retrieve
citations that use the Bluebook or ALWD citation
formats, as well as most reasonable variations.
Punctuation and capitalization do not matter.
LOISLAW
In order to retrieve a case by citation in
Loislawlawschool, you must know the state
where the case was decided in order to select
a library to search. This is easiest if
you have a citation to an official reporter (i.e.,
395 Mass. 12 or 5 U.S. 137).
-
To find a Massachusetts
case, start in the My State Collection.
To find a case from another state, start in
the National Collection.
-
Select a
file to search from Case Law Libraries. Note
that you can search multiple files at one
time.
-
Enter the
citation in the search box using the following
rules:
|
|
Yes |
No |
|
Use a
space between citation segments |
395 Mass.
12 |
395Mass.12 |
|
Use a
space after a period when it is at the end
of the citation segment |
395 mass.
12 |
395 Mass.
12 |
|
Don’t
use a space when the period is in the middle
of the citation segment |
588 N.E.2d
482 |
588 N.
E. 2d 482 |
|
Use a
period to separate each part of a reporter
abbreviation |
588 n.e.2d
482 |
588 NE2d
482 |
*Note
that capitalization does not matter.
LAWDESK
To find a Massachusetts case
by citation in LawDesk, you will need the citation
to the regional reporter (i.e., N.E.2d).
See LawDesk User's Guide for more help using LawDesk.
-
Once you have opened LawDesk, choose the
Massachusetts Authority CD-ROM that includes
the reporter volume of your citation.
-
Click on the Templates option at the top
right of the search box.
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Choose Search by Citation.
-
Enter the citation in the search box using
the following format: '423 n.e.2d 1' -- Note
that you must use single quotation marks.
WEB RESOURCES
United States Supreme Court Cases
If have a citation to a Supreme Court case in
United States Reports (i.e., 17 U.S. 316), then
you can retrieve your case by citation on Findlaw
at the
Supreme Court Center (scroll down to citation
search).
Other jurisdictions
Most web sites that publish court opinions on
the web avoid citations that reference commercially
produced, unofficial, print case reporters.
Many use dates, docket numbers, and party names
as search options. If you have a jurisdiction
and docket number for a recent case, then you
can probably find it on the web.
Please ask at the reference desk for assistance
in finding a web page relevant for your jurisdiction.
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STUDENT
RESOURCES 
