Court System
Trial Court
Most disputes, both civil and criminal, are litigated in the first
level of the court system. The issues of fact are determined in
this court. Most trial courts do not produce or publish written
opinions. They generate a record, as trial transcripts and pre-trial
proceedings are filed with the court, but such materials are rarely
published.
Intermediate Appellate
Court
This court decides if the trial court was correct in its ruling
on the issue of law. This court usually consists of three or more
judges who confer and vote on the determination of the issue. Cases
are the written determination of issues of law. Not all appellate
decisions are published.
Court of Last Resort
- this court is known as the Supreme Court in most jurisdictions.
The opinions of this court are binding on all trial and intermediate
appellate courts in its jurisdiction. All Supreme Court cases for
every state and federal system are reported in full. The Supreme
Court may determine the outcome of a case by refusing to hear an
appeal and thereby letting a lower court decision stand. This is
called denying a petition for writ of certiorari or cert denied.
Publication of Cases
- Earliest Decisions
- 11th Century England
- Year Books
- Nominative Reporters
in 1571
- First American Decisions
in 1789
- US Supreme Court official
reporter in 1817
- Syllabi
in 1876 by John B West
- North Western Reporter
in 1879
National Reporter System
Federal System
- District Court - trial
court
- Federal Supplement,
2d
- Federal Supplement
- Circuit Courts - appellate
courts
- Federal Reporter,
3rd
- Federal Reporter,
2d
- Federal Rules Decisions
- decisions dealing with Federal Rules of Criminal and Civil Procedure
and not published in the Federal Supplement
- United States Supreme
Court
- Map
of the Thirteen Federal Judicial Circuits
- US
Court of Appeals Map
State System
West Key Number System
- Seven Categories
- Persons
- Property
- Contracts
- Torts
- Crimes
- Remedies
- Government
- Over 400 Individual
Topics
- Key Numbers
Construction of Headnotes
- Subject Access to
Cases
- Legal Issue Summarized
- Headnote Created
- Assigned Topic and
Key Number
- Headnotes appear in
Cases and Digests
Digests
- US Supreme Court Digest
- West's Federal Practice
Digest 4th
- Prior Federal Practice
Digests
- Federal Practice
2nd
- Modern Federal Practice
Digest
- Specialized Digests
- Bankruptcy Law
Digest, 2d
- West's Military
Justice Digest
- State Digests
- West's Colorado
Digest, 2d
- Regional Digests
- West's Pacific
Digest, 2d -- 1978 to present
- West's Pacific
Digest, 2d -- 1962 to 1978
- West's Pacific
Digest, 2d -- 1941
to 1962
- Comprehensive American
Digest System
- Century Digest
1658 - 1896
- abstracts
of all reported cases
- classification
system similar to current digests, but its section numbers
are not the same as the key numbers
- Decennial Digest
begins in 1897
- Eleventh Decennial Digest, Part 3
- Eleventh Decennial Digest, Part 2
- Eleventh Decennial
Digest, Part 1
- Tenth Decennial
Digest, Part 2
- Tenth Decennial
Digest, Part 1
- contains all
the headnotes for the courts of every state and federal
jurisdiction
- uses basically
the same classification system still in use today
- cross-referencing
to the Century Digest
- published
every 5 - 10 years and once they are published, they are
not updated or recompiled
- update using
the General Digest
- General Digest
- West's General Digest, 12th
- West's General Digest, 11th
- in effect
the advance sheets for the next Decennial Digest
Construction of West's
Digests
Every Digest volume contains
the following information at the beginning of the volume:
Finding Cases in the
West Digests
- Starting with a known
case
- Table of Cases
- Cases Reported
Table
- Reporter bound
volume or advance sheets
- Shepard's
Acts and Cases by Popular Names: Federal and State
- Subject searching
in Indexes
- Descriptive-Word
Index
- Words and Phrases
Table
- Analyzing Classification
Outline of Topic
- Exercise some caution
when using Digests
Colorado Cases
- West's Colorado Digest, 2d
- West's Colorado Reporter,
3d
- West's Colorado Reporter,
2d
- West's Pacific Digest
, 2d -- 1978 to present
- West's Pacific Digest,
2d -- 1962 to 1978
- West's Pacific Digest,
2d -- 1941 to 1962
- West's Pacific Reporter,
3d
- West's Pacific Reporter,
2d
Caselaw
Web Sites
- US Supreme Court
- US Court of Appeals
by Circuit
- 10th Circuit
- Washburn
- Cases from Oct 1997
- Best source for 10th Circuit cases
- Colorado Cases
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