Legal Research Refresher: Primary Authority Guide

If you need to find the law itself, look at primary authority. Primary authority
comes from governmental entities that are enabled to make law. Primary
authority includes the United States Constitution and state constitutions, federal
and state cases, federal and state statutes and court rules, and federal and state
administrative regulations and decisions.

Some primary authority can also lead you to secondary authority, like law review
articles and practice materials that can help you better understand the issue you
are researching.

A. Finding cases using digests.

Judicial opinions, or cases, are issued by both state and federal courts.
Because cases are published chronologically, by jurisdiction, the best way
to find cases using print sources is with a digest—basically, an index to case
law that arranges cases by subject.

West digests such as the Massachusetts Digest, Federal Practice Digest,

and regional digests are arranged alphabetically by topic, and each topic is
divided into smaller subjects designated by key numbers. Under the key
numbers you will find brief summaries of law from, and citations to,
cases.

1. Select the narrowest digest that will have cases from the
jurisdiction(s) you are researching.
2. Start by looking for your search terms in the descriptive word
index. This should point you to a topic and key number.
3. Look up the topic and key number. Read the summaries—the
headnotes written by West editors—to find relevant cases.
4. Check the table of contents at the beginning of the topic. There
might be other relevant key numbers that you did not get from the
descriptive word index.
5. Check the pocket part for updates!
6. Most digests also have a table of cases to use when you know the
names of the parties but do not know the citation. The digest may
also have a Words and Phrases volume to use when you want to
see how courts have defined a word or phrase.

Prepared by the Suffolk University

Law School Legal Practice Skills
Program and the Suffolk University
Law School Moakley Law Library.

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 B. Finding statutes and court rules.
State and federal legislatures enact laws known as statutes. Courts
promulgate rules for practice within those courts, and those rules are also
published with the statutes.

Annotated statutes, sometimes referred to as annotated codes or annotated

laws, provide the full text of statutes and rules, as well as a brief
legislative history of the statutes and rules, cases interpreting the statutes
and rules, and secondary authority such as ALR reports and law review
articles.

Annotated versions of federal statutes and rules can be found in the United
States Code Annotated (USCA) and United States Code Service (USCS).
Annotated versions of Massachusetts statutes and rules can be found in
Massachusetts General Laws Annotated (MGLA) or Annotated Laws of
Massachusetts (ALM). Use Table 1 in The Bluebook to find the names of
the annotated codes for other states.

1. If you do not already have the citation to a relevant statute or rule,

start by searching for keywords in the index.
2. Once you have located a relevant statute or rule in the index, look
up the statute or rule in the code. After the text of the statute or
rule there will be references to related statutes, cases, and
secondary authority.
3. The cases are often grouped by issue, and there will be a table of
contents before the cases.
4. Check the pocket part for updates!
5. LexisNexis has the USCS and ALM. The USCA and MGLA are
available on Westlaw.

C. Finding Administrative Regulations and Decisions.

Administrative law deals with regulations, decisions, and other documents
from the executive branch of government. On the federal level, this
includes the Office of the President as well as fifteen executive
departments, like the Departments of Education, Labor, and Justice. In
addition, there are numerous agencies, commissions, and boards, like the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications
Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board. On the state level,
administrative law is promulgated by the Office of the Governor and state
agencies. For example, the Office of the Attorney General and the
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination are two Massachusetts
agencies.
Do not forget to check
pocket parts–or soft-cover
supplements–for more
recent cases, statutes,
and amendments.

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 1. Regulations
A regulation is a rule that is issued by an administrative agency
and has legal force.

a. Federal Regulations (Code of Federal Regulations, Federal

Register)
Nearly everything a federal agency issues is published in
the Federal Register. This includes notices and hearings,
as well as proposed and final rules and regulations.
Regulations are first published in the Federal Register,
which is published daily, and are codified annually by
subject in the Code of Federal Regulations.
The Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations
are available via Westlaw, LexisNexis, and the
Government Printing Office’s free official website,
GPOAccess: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/. The Suffolk
University Law School Library also has paper copies and
indexes.
b. Massachusetts Regulations (Code of Massachusetts
Regulations, Massachusetts Register)
In Massachusetts, regulations are first published in the
Massachusetts Register and then codified in the Code of
Massachusetts Regulations.
i. The Massachusetts Register is available via
LexisNexis but not Westlaw.
ii. The Code of Massachusetts Regulations is available
on both Westlaw and LexisNexis, the Social Law
Lib. database—
http://www.law.suffolk.edu/library/research/databas
es.cfm, and for free via the Massachusetts Trial
Court Law Libraries database located at
http://www.lawlib.state.ma.us/cmr.html.

2. Agency Decisions
Federal and state agencies decide cases and questions that deal
with areas that they regulate. Whenever you are working in an
area that is regulated by a federal or state agency, remember that
that agency’s decisions are important primary materials.

a. Federal Agency Decisions

i. Most federal agencies publish their decisions in
official and unofficial reports that are available via
Make sure you update Westlaw and LexisNexis.
ii. You could also consult official and unofficial paper
your research using reports. To find a reporter for a particular agency,
Shepard’s or KeyCite. look at Suffolk University Law School Library’s
Find out if your case or treatises and looseleafs list at
statute is still good law http://www.law.suffolk.edu/library/research/a-
z/index.cfm.
and find other relevant
material.

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 iii. You may also find decisions on the agency’s
website.
b. State Agency Decisions
i. On the state level, many agencies report their
decisions in official reporters, while others do not.
ii. The Social Law Library database—
http://www.law.suffolk.edu/library/research/databas
es.cfm—contains decisions for many Massachusetts
state agencies.
iii. Some Massachusetts agency decisions are also
available via Westlaw and LexisNexis.
iv. The library also has paper reporters available for
some agency decisions.
v. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly is a good source for
agency decisions, particularly for agencies that do
not publish their decisions in an official reporter.
3. Other Materials
In addition to regulations and decisions, agencies publish reports,
booklets, statistical summaries, newsletters, and other helpful
documents.

a. Federal Materials
For federal agencies, the Catalog of U.S. Government
Publications—http://catalog.gpo.gov—allows you to search
for materials published by federal agencies. You will find
links for many full text documents through this catalog.
b. State Materials
Many state agencies post reports, newsletters, and other
helpful materials on their websites. For Massachusetts, go
to http://www.mass.gov to link to agency websites.

D. Using LexisNexis and Westlaw.

Both LexisNexis and Westlaw have full-text databases of primary source
materials.

1. If you know the citation to a case, statute, court rule, or regulation,

use “Find by Citation” on Westlaw or “Get a Document” on
LexisNexis to get the full text.
2. If you do not have a citation, do a terms and connectors or natural
language search to find relevant material.
a. Select the narrowest database that has the information you
need.
GPO Access
–www.gpoaccess.gov– is
a great free Web site for
primary authority from the
U.S. Congress, the President,
and federal administrative
agencies.

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 b. Use fields on Westlaw or segments on LexisNexis to
narrow the search.
3. Once you have a case on point, use Topics and Key Numbers on
Westlaw or LexisNexis Headnotes on LexisNexis to find more
cases on the same issue.

E. Updating your research.

Once you have cases, statutes, and regulations on your topic, you can use a
citator service, like Shepard’s or KeyCite, to make sure that what you have
found is still good law. For example, a citator service will help you
determine whether a case has been reversed or overruled.

1. The only print citator service is Shepard’s Citations. Shepard’s is

also available on LexisNexis and on the two computers to the left
of the reference desk in the Suffolk University Law School library.
2. Westlaw’s citator service is KeyCite.
3. Both Shepard’s and KeyCite can also be used as a research tool.
When you Shepardize or KeyCite a case or statute you can find
other cases, statutes, and secondary authority on the issue you are
researching.

Suffolk University Law School students and alumni who would like research
assistance should contact the Suffolk University Law School Moakley Law
Library reference librarians at:
• 617-573-8516,
• lawref@suffolk.edu, or
• the reference desk on the sixth floor of the library.

Keep in mind that West's

topics and key numbers
are the same for every
jurisdiction.