Terminology

Question 1

Analogize

Answer 1

to take the facts, rationale or argument of a written decision and explain how the argument relates to your case

Question 2

citation

Answer 2

a reference to a legal precedent or authority such as a case, statute or treatise

Question 3

citators

Answer 3

a tool used in legal research to update legal authorities by listing their subsequent history and treatment

Question 4

civil law

Answer 4

The body of law defining offenses against the community at large,
regulating how suspects are investigated, charged and tried, and
establishing punishment for convicted offender

Question 5

criminal law

Answer 5

the body of law defining offenses against the community at large, regulating how suspects are investigated, charged and tried, and establishing punishment for convicted offenders

Question 6

court rules

Answer 6

Rules that control the operation of the courts and the conduct of the litigants appearing before the court

Question 7

digests

Answer 7

a case finding tool that organizes cases by subject and within each subject, provides summaries of cases that discusses the law on that subject

Question 8

distinguishing an authority

Answer 8

Taking the facts, rationale or arguments of a written decision or other primary authority and showing the differences between that authority and your case, even id on the surface they seem similar

Question 9

index

Answer 9

an alphabetical listing of items (topics of names) available in the resource along with an indication of where each item may be found within the work

Question 10

hypothetical

Answer 10

discussion of a legal principle based on a fictitious or assumed set of facts

Question 11

moot court

Answer 11

a fictitious court held, usually in law schools, to argue hypothetical cases, especially at the appellate level

Question 12

persuasive authority

Answer 12

authority that carries some weight but is not binding on a court

Question 13

pinpoint citation

Answer 13

the page on which a quotation or relevant passage appears, as opposed to the page on which a case or article begins

Question 14

procedural law

Answer 14

rules that describe the steps for having a right or duty judicially enforced, as opposed to the law that defines the specific rights and duties themselves

Question 15

relevance

Answer 15

relation or pertinence to the issue at hand

Question 16

relief

Answer 16

the compensation or benefit that a party asks of another party, sometimes received through settlement and other times through received through the courts

Question 17

respondent

Answer 17

the party against whom an appeal is taken (appellee); the party against whom a motion or petition is filed

Question 18

Socratic method

Answer 18

a technique of law school instruction, whereby a professor questions one or more students, building on each answer with another question

Question 19

substantive law

Answer 19

the part of the law that creates, defines and regulates the rights, duties and powers of parties

Question 20

uniform laws

Answer 20

an unofficial law proposed as legislation for all the states to adopt exactly as written, the purpose being to promote greater consistency among the states

Question 21

primary legal authority

Answer 21

authority that issues directly from a lawmaking body such as constitutions, legislation, regulations and the reports of litigated cases (court opinions) among others

Question 22

primary authority

Answer 22

authority issued from a non-lawmaking body that must be followed by the individuals/entities covered by the organization

Question 23

secondary legal authority

Answer 23

authority that explains the law but does not itself establish the law, such as a treatise, annotation or law review article among others

Question 24

mandatory (binding) legal authority

Answer 24

a primary legal authority that is binding on a court

Question 25

persuasive legal authority

Answer 25

a primary legal authority that is not binding on a court, but the court may still rely on the authority when making its determination or a secondary authority

Question 26

federal jurisdiction

Answer 26

a federal court's power to hear matters

Question 27

state jurisdiction

Answer 27

a state court's power to hear matters Table of Contents: usually located at the beginning of the work, it provides a list of chapters/sections within the work, often in outline form, and the page numbers where the topics and chapters begin

Question 28

regulation

Answer 28

a primary authority that stems from the executive branch

Question 29

appeal

Answer 29

to seek review by a higher court

Question 30

appellate

Answer 30

one who brings the appeal of the lower court decision

Question 31

appellate briefs

Answer 31

written argument submitted to the appellate court system in support of your position on appeal

Question 32

appellee

Answer 32

one against whom the appeal is brought and must respond to the appeal

Question 33

case

Answer 33

generally used in law to refer to the written decision of the court

Question 34

case law

Answer 34

all reported decisions within a jurisdiction. May consist of common law decisions as well as judicial decisions interpreting statutes, regulations, constitutions, etc.

Question 35

case reporters

Answer 35

court opinions are gathered together and published in chronological order in print

Question 36

common law

Answer 36

the body of judge-mad law having no basis in statutes

Question 37

concurrence

Answer 37

a vote cast by a judge in favor of the judgment reached, often on grounds different from those expressed in the opinion explaining the judgment

Question 38

defendant

Answer 38

a person sued in civil proceeding or accused in a criminal proceeding

Question 39

dicta

Answer 39

a comment by a court that is unnecessary to a decision and therefore not precedential

Question 40

dissent

Answer 40

a disagreement with the majority opinion; opinion by one or more judges who disagree with the decision reached by the majority

Question 41

federal district courts

Answer 41

the trial court level in the federal court system

Question 42

federal circuit courts

Answer 42

the appellate court level in the federal court system

Question 43

headnotes

Answer 43

a brief summary of a specific point of law decided in a case

Question 44

Illinois circuit courts

Answer 44

the trial court in the Illinois state court system

Question 45

Illinois district courts

Answer 45

the appellate court level in the Illinois state court system

Question 46

immediate appellate courts

Answer 46

appellate courts are in the middle of the judicial hierarchy in a jurisdiction, they are considered the intermediate court

Question 47

judge

Answer 47

a public official appointed or elected to hear and decide legal matters in court

Question 48

judiciary

Answer 48

he branch of government responsible for interpreting the law and administering justice; a body of judges

Question 49

justice

Answer 49

a judge, especially of an appellate court

Question 50

litigator

Answer 50

a lawyer who prepares cases for trial as by conducting discovery and pretrial motions, trying cases and handling appeals; a trial lawyer

Question 51

litigation

Answer 51

the process of carrying on a lawsuit; the lawsuit itself

Question 52

litigant

Answer 52

a party of a lawsuit

Question 53

majority opinion

Answer 53

an opinion joined in by more than half of the judges considering a given case

Question 54

minority opinion

Answer 54

an opinion by one or more judges who disagree with the decision reached by the majority

Question 55

official reporter

Answer 55

the governmentally approved publication reproducing reported cases within a given jurisdiction

Question 56

parallel citation

Answer 56

an additional reference to a case that has been reported in more than one reporter

Question 57

petitioner

Answer 57

a party who presents a petition to a court or other official body, especially when seeking relief on appeal

Question 58

plaintiff

Answer 58

the party who brings a civil suit in a court of law

Question 59

precedent

Answer 59

a decided case that furnished a basis for determining later cases involving similar facts or issues

Question 60

stare decisi

Answer 60

to stand by things decided", and American legal system doctrine of precedent under which it is necessary for a court to follow earlier judicial decision when the same points are again in litigation

Question 61

supreme court

Answer 61

this is the court of last resort, or highest court in the judicial hierarchy

Question 62

table of authorities

Answer 62

the list of primary authorities and secondary authorities relied upon in the document you are viewing

Question 63

trial courts

Answer 63

trial courts are at the bottom of the judicial hierarchy in a jurisdiction

Question 64

unofficial reporter

Answer 64

the private publications reproducing the reported decisions within a given jurisdiction

Question 65

code

Answer 65

the subject arrangement of the laws or regulations of a jurisdiction

Question 66

annotated code

Answer 66

a publication of all the laws of a jurisdiction organized by subject mater which contains research references that include summaries of cases or citations to secondary sources that discuss that particular law

Question 67

federal stature

Answer 67

written laws passed by Congress

Question 68

legislative history

Answer 68

he proceedings leading up to the enactment of a statute

Question 69

session laws

Answer 69

a body of statutes enacted by a legislature during a particular annual or biennial session; the books containing these statutes

Question 70

state statute

Answer 70

written laws passed by the state legislature

Question 71

statute

Answer 71

a law passed by a legislative body

Question 72

statute at large

Answer 72

an official compilation of the acts and resolutions that become law from each session of Congress

Question 73

statutory annotatinos

Answer 73

used to refer to brief summaries of court decisions interpreting and applying statutes as well as summaries of secondary materials referencing the statutory section

Question 74

unannotated code

Answer 74

a publication of all the laws of a jurisdiction organized by subject matter

Question 75

American law reports

Answer 75

a secondary source that publishes articles that summarize the case law across jurisdictions dealing with a particular legal topic

Question 76

legal encyclopedia

Answer 76

a secondary source that provides a general overview of the law on a variety of topics

Question 77

legal periodicals

Answer 77

secondary sources consisting of law review, law journals, association journals, newspapers and other periodically published news items

Question 78

restatement

Answer 78

a type of secondary authority that is published by the American Law Institute

Question 79

treatise

Answer 79

a type of secondary authority that extensively covers on topic