Winning Research Skills - Westlaw

Fundamentals of Statutory Law
When we discussed the West publication USCCAN, we noted that the bound volumes were
supplemented on a monthly basis. You can also use these monthly supplements to USCCAN to
update the code. The laws in USCCAN are arranged in chronological order as they were passed
by Congress.
State Legislation
Much of our discussion of the forms of publication of federal legislation also applies to the
publication of state legislation. Most states publish their statutes initially in a slip law format.
Many states publish slip laws in the form of advance sheets, which are softbound supplements to
a code. All states publish bound session laws. Most states publish a bound official code, and at
least one annotated code is published for every state. Court rules and constitutions, along with
the laws, are usually included in state codes. State codifications may be called codes, revisions,
compilations, or consolidations, and their format and numbering systems vary from state to
state.
Westlaw offers multistate and individual jurisdiction databases containing statutes and other
legislative materials. For example, the State Statutes–Annotated database (ST-ANN-ALL)
provides statutes from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
Islands, plus annotations. Statutes for individual jurisdictions are found in databases with the
identifier XX-ST-ANN, where XX is a jurisdiction’s two-letter postal abbreviation.
The Multistate Legislative Service database (LEGIS-ALL) provides documents passed by the
legislatures of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands,
along with selected documents proposing legislation by initiative or proposition. Information
from individual jurisdictions is found in databases with the identifier XX-LEGIS, where XX is a
jurisdiction’s two-letter postal abbreviation.
Federal and State Constitutions
The Constitution of the United States is the foundation of our government and legal system.
Because the Constitution is an expression of organizational structure, guiding principles, and
fundamental rights and responsibilities, most of the rules of what is commonly called
constitutional law have been articulated by the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court is the final
authority on issues of constitutional law.
Staying current with amendments to the U.S. Constitution is not a problem, but locating cases
that have applied a particular constitutional provision can be a trial.
You can locate the Constitution in the USC and in separate volumes of the USCA. Using the
annotated code may be the easiest way for you to find citations to cases interpreting the
Constitution. The USCA provides extensive coverage by including annotations to federal and
state decisions regarding each article or amendment to the Constitution.
The United States Supreme Court Digest and the federal court case law digests will also help you
locate cases involving issues of constitutional law. Most constitutional provisions have been
interpreted so frequently, however, that you will need help synthesizing the information.
Fortunately, you can turn to secondary sources such as legal treatises, encyclopedias, and
periodicals.
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