THE COURT SYSTEM

The court system in the United States consists of 51 jurisdictions (fifty states, plus the federal system). Each of the fifty states has courts at three levels:

Trial Courts
Intermediate Appellate Court
Court of Last Resort

While every state has courts at these 3 levels: trial, appellate and court of last resort, the actual names of the courts may be different in different states.

In Colorado:

• the Trial court is the county district court
• the Appellate court is the Colorado Court of Appeals
• the Court of last resort is the Colorado Supreme Court.

The trial court is the first level in the court system. In actual operation, the trial court may have numerous subdivisions and special branches (e.g., probate, family court, small claims court, etc.) but every jurisdiction has a trail court of general jurisdiction at which most disputes are initially adjudicated. A trial judge's ruling on an issue of law can be appealed to the court at the intermediate level. In some cases, after the determination of an appeal in the intermediate appeal court, a second appeal may be taken, this time to the court of last resort.

The federal system has courts which are parallel to those in the fifty states.

At the Federal Level:

• Trial courts are U.S. District Courts
• the Appellate courts are U.S. Courts of Appeals
• the Court of last resort is the U.S. Supreme Court.

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COLORADO COURTS

DISTRICT COURTS

Publication of Cases in Colorado Courts

Colorado, like most states, DOES NOT publish decisions from its trial court level (District Court.) Trial court proceedings are filed with the clerk of the court, where you may obtain a transcript for a fee.

COURT OF APPEALS AND SUPREME COURT

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe Select Legal Research, State Case Law and then Colorado. Provides access to the Colorado Court of Appeals, 1891- and the Colorado Supreme Court, 1864- .   

Pacific Reporter 2d- (title varies) St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1931- REF KF 135 .P2 .P2

The Pacific Reporter published by West Publishing Company is a regional reporter which includes Colorado decisions as well as decisions from fourteen other western states. In addition to the full report of each decision, West Publishing Company editors prepare detailed head-notes (abstracts of the legal issues in the case.)

---USING THE PACIFIC REPORTER---

• Pacific Reporter: Case finding by citation: When you have a citation to a case (i.e., the volume and page number,) as in the following example:

Austin v. Stephen 300 P. 364 (Colo. 1931)

Find the decision in volume 300, on page 364 on the first series of books published as Pacific Reporter.

In this example:

Andretti v. Johnson 779 P.2d 382 (Colo. 1989)

Find the decision in volume 779, on page 382 of the second series of books published as Pacific Reporter. Volumes in the second series bear the imprint "2d series" on the spine.

• Pacific Reporter: Case Finding by Name: When you know the name of the case (i.e., the name of the plaintiff and defendant) use the "Table of Cases" of one of the digests listed below to find the reference.  If you do not know the year of the case, use the digest from all editions.
• West's Pacific Digest. Beginning 101, P2d. St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1962-1972 REF KF 135. P21 W4

West's Pacific Digest, Beginning 376, P2d. St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1979-
REF KF 135. P21 W42

Example:

City of Grand Junction v. Eichelberger

The "Table of Cases" volume provides this reference:

City of Grand Junction v. Eichelberger 334 P.2d 1095 (Colo. 1959)

• Pacific Reporter: Case Finding by Subject: When you need subject access to legal decisions use the "Descriptive Word Index" of one of the digests listed in Pacific Reporter: Case Finding by Name

The "Descriptive Word Index" is a detailed subject index to the contents of the digest. Before consulting a "Descriptive Work Index," analyze the problem to be searched, and draw from it very specific words or phrases which may be searched.

For example, if you want to research "Change of venue" for a criminal case.

Find the phrase in the index and select the most appropriate subheading. With the topic and subheading are key numbers. Use these to find the digest volume which covers those Key Numbers there you will find a listing of cases related to that topic. You may wish to study the outline for that topic in the introductory material at the beginning of the appropriate volume to ensure that you find the most relevant cases. To do an exhaustive search you should consult the digest topic and appropriate key number in each digest.

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FEDERAL COURTS

U.S. DISTRICT COURTS

The United States District Courts are the trial courts at the federal level. Colorado has one United States District Court, located in Denver. This court hears cases which are appealed from the Supreme Court of Colorado.  

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe Select Legal Research, Federal Case Law and then within the pull-down menu for Court, select District Courts. Provides access to cases heard by all U.S. District Courts from 1789- .   

West's Federal Supplement. (title varies) St. Paul: West Pub. Co. 1933- REF KF 105 .F44

---FINDING A CASE IN THE FEDERAL SUPPLEMENT---

• Federal Supplement: Case Finding by Citation: When you have a citation to a case (i.e., the volume and page number), as in the following example:

Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Samson  471 F. Supp. 1041 (1979)

Find the decision in volume 471, on page 1041 of the Federal Supplement.

• Federal Supplement: Case Finding by Name: When you know the name of a case (i.e., the name of the plaintiff and defendenvt), use the "Table of Cases" volume of one of the digests listed to find the reference.  If you do not know the year of the case, use the digest from all editions.
• Modern Federal Practice St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1960-1971
• REF KF 127 .M6
• West's Federal Practice Digest 2d. St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1976- 1978
• REF KF 127 .W28
• West's Federal Practice Digest 3d. St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1984- 1987
• REF KF 127 .W4830
• West's Federal Practice Digest 4th. St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1989-
• REF KF 127 .W484

• Federal Supplement: Case Finding by Subject: Use the "Descriptive Word Index" of one of the digests listed in Federal Supplement: Case Finding by Name for subject access.
  Using digests for subject access is discussed in Pacific Reporter: Case Finding by Subject. You will find a that the discussion relates to decisions in the state court system, but you can follow the same steps to find cases in the Federal digests.

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U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

The United States Courts of Appeals are the appellate courts on the federal level. The U.S. Courts of Appeals consist of thirteen judicial circuits. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals hears cases which are appealed from the U.S. District Court, for Colorado as well as from the U.S. District Courts of Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.  

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe Select Legal Research, Federal Case Law and then within the pull-down menu for Court, select Court of Appeals. Provides access to cases heard by all U.S. Circuit Courts, dates available vary by court.   

West's Federal Reporter. Second Series. (title varies) St. Paul: West Pub. Co., 1925-. REF KF 105 .F42

---USING THE FEDERAL REPORTER---

• Federal Reporter: Case Finding by Citation: When you have a citation to a  case (i.e., the volume and page number), as in the following example:
  
  Colorado High School Activities Association v. National Football League, 711 F 2d. 943 (1983). Find the decision in volume 711, on page 943 of the second series of books published as Federal Reporter. Volumes in the second series bear the imprint "2nd" series" on the spine. Auraria Library does not own any volumes published in the first series of the Federal Reporter.

• Federal Reporter: Case Finding by Name: When you know the name of a case (i.e., the name of the plaintiff and defendant), use the "Table of Cases" of one of the digests listed in Federal Supplement: Case Finding by Name to find the reference.  if you do not know the year of the case, use the "digest from all editions.

Example:

Dennis v. Charnes

The "Table of Cases" volume gives the Reference:

Dennis v. Charnes, 805 F.2d 339 (1984).

• Federal Reporter: Case Finding by Subject: For subject access use the "Descriptive Word Index" of one of the digests listed in Federal Supplement: Case Finding by Name.

Follow the steps in Pacific Reporter: Finding Cases by Subject for a discussion of using digests for subject access.

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Internet Resources

10th Circuit Court Opinions -- Part of the FindLaw, mega-law site, this provides access to recent cases heard by the Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit.

Colorado Courts

Colorado Supreme Court Library

Duhaime's Law Dictionary

Federal and State Courts Finder

Federal Courts Law Review -- An electronic law review specializing exclusively in legal scholarship relating to federal courts.

Findlaw

International Court of Justice  -- International Court of Justice.  The International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has its seat in The Hague, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions  -- "...features extensive summaries of court decisions shaping the law of the web; providing facts, analysis and pertinent quotes from cases of interest to those involved in New Media addressing copyright, trademark, dilution and other intellectual property issues, jurisdiction, linking, framing, meta tags, clip-art, defamation, domain name, e-mail, encryption, gambling, click-wrap agreements, shrink-wrap licenses, spamming and other subjects.

National Center for State Courts

Nolo Legal Encyclopedia  and  Nolo Legal Dictionary  -- Nolo Press sponsors this online legal encyclopedia and dictionary.  They make every effort to minimize "legalese" and target the day-to-day non-lawyer user.  The dictionary provides definitions and the encyclopedia more in-depth information. 

State and Local Government on the 'Net -- Links to over 7,288 law/legal sites.  Arranged by state.

Supreme Court of the United States -- information about the Supreme Court.  Cases are not covered here.  See Findlaw or Lexis-Nexis for cases.

U.S. Supreme Court Opinions -- Part of the FindLaw, mega-law site, this provides access to recent cases heard by the Supreme Court, as well as the text of Selected Cases.

Supreme Court Reports 1967-1995 -- free Internet access to 18,274 cases dating from 1892.  Includes a 2,800 subject term index which is searchable by letter of the alphabet.

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U.S. SUPREME COURT

The U.S. Supreme Court serves as the final level of appeal in any federal dispute. Only a small percentage of the cases appealed to the Supreme Court are accepted for consideration. The Court typically writes opinions on less than 150 cases per term.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe Select Legal Research, Federal Case Law and then within the pull-down menu for Court, select Supreme Court. Provides access to the U.S. Supreme Court Lawyers' Edition, 1790- .    United States. Supreme Court.

United States Reports. Washington, D.C.: Supt. of Docs. REF KF 101 .U5a
Commonly referred to as United States Reports (abbreviated for citation purposes as U.S.) This version is the official reporter for the Supreme Court of the United States. It is an accurate, well-indexed compilation of the full official text of all decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Auraria Library's set begins with Volume 410 beginning October 1972. The advance sheets and volumes of the U.S. Reports tend to appear quite slowly.   

United States Supreme Court Reports. Lawyers' Edition. Rochester, N.Y.: Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co., 1926-. REF KF 101 .U52
An unofficial compilation, the Auraria Library holds the complete set. The Lawyers' Edition is published faster than the United States Reports. Besides including a totally accurate printing of all Supreme Court decisions this provides short summaries of the briefs of counsel. In addition, the publisher includes annotations on a few of the more important cases in each volume.

---USING THE LAWYERS' EDITION---

• Lawyers' Edition: Case Finding by Citation: When you have a citation to a case (i.e., the volume and the page number), as in the following example:

Keyes et al v. School District No. 1, Denver, Colorado, et al, 413 U.S. 189, 37 L.Ed 2d 548, 93 S.Ct. 2686 (1973)

Find the decision either in volume 413, on page 189 of the U.S. Reports, or volume 37, on page 548 of the second series of books published as Lawyers' Edition.

The above citation is called a parallel citation and it refers you to the location of the decision in the official reporter as well as two unofficial reporters. The third reporter in the above citation is the Supreme Court Reporter, published by West Publishing Company. Auraria Library does not own the Supreme Court Reporter in its collection.

If the citation you have follows the next example:

Milheim v. Moffat Tunnel Improvement District, 262 U.S. 710, 67 L.Ed. 1194, 43 S.Ct. 694 (1923)

Find the decision in volume 67, on page 1194 of the first series of books published as Lawyers' Edition or in volume 262 of the U.S. Reports, (which Auraria Library does not own.)

• Lawyers' Edition: Case Finding by Name: When you know the name of the case (i.e., the name of the plaintiff and defendant), use the digest. Digest of United States Supreme Court Reports. Lawyers' Edition. Rochester, N.Y.: Lawyer's Co-operative Pub. Co. REF. KF 101.1 .U52

Example:

Colorado v. New Mexico

The digest provides the following reference:

Colorado v. New Mexico, 467 U. S. 310, 81 L. Ed.2d 247, 104 S. Ct. 2433 (1984)

Find the decision either in volume 467, on page 310 of the U.S. Reports, or in volume 81, on page 247 of the second series of the Lawyers' Edition.

• Lawyers' Edition: Case Finding by Subject: When you need subject access to legal decisions use the digest listed in Lawyers' Edition: Case Finding by Name
• In Pacific Reporter: Case Finding by Subject you will find a discussion of digests and how to use them. This can be related to using the U.S. Supreme Court Digest Lawyers' Edition for subject access. The U.S. Supreme Court Digest divides the legal issues into some 400 topics and numerous subdivisions of those topics. These topics and subtopics are different from those used by West Publishing Company, but they like those by West, are keyed to the head-notes and annotations in the United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition.

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Explanation of Location Codes

REF = Reference Stacks on Main level near Reference Desk     
INDEX = Index Stacks on Main level near Reference Desk 
GOVPUB = Stacks on Main level near Government Publications office  
GOV PUB CD-ROM = In the CD-ROM Cluster by the Government Publications Office on Main level
PERIOD = Periodicals Department  Main Level, Most Recent Issues in Current Periodicals