Where can you find an analysis of state and federal court
opinions relevant to your specific point of law or fact situation?
Try the American Law Report Series (ALR) consisting
in chronological order of ALR 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th and ALR
Federal and Federal 2d located on the 3rd floor in the arched
windows room.
Each “annotation” focuses on a particular issue, such as grandparents’
visiting rights, and consists of an overview followed by a detailed
analysis with citations to court opinions holding for or against
a particular proposition.
Annotations can be found most easily by using the hard bound
multi-volume word index. Once you find an annotation, first
check the Annotation History Table in the back of the last index
volume and in the pocket part located in the back cover to determine
if your annotation has been superseded or supplemented by a later
annotation. This will save you time.
ALR Digests arranged alphabetically by broad categories of subject
matter with detailed outlines are available, but seldom used.
Law students can also search the ALR database on Westlaw and
the combined ALR/Am.Jur.2d database on Lexis. Lexis does
not include ALR 1st annotations, most of which are obsolete or
have been rewritten in the subsequent series.
Remember to update your print annotation as follows:
-
ALR 1st series
Look for your particular ALR citation in each
volume of the ALR Bluebook of Supplemental Decisions.
-
ALR 2d
Look for your particular ALR 2d citation in the volume
and its pocket part (located in the back cover) of the ALR
2d Later Case Service which corresponds to your citation.
-
ALR 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th and Federal and Federal 2d
Look for your citation in the pocket part located in the
rear cover of the volume where you found your citation.
