Annotations

McGraw-Hill Copyright 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter Objectives
Recognize the purpose and use of annotations. Compare and contrast annotations and digests. Identify and use the various annotation series. Judge the quality of the various annotation series. Identify and use the various parts of an A.L.R. annotation.
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Chapter Objectives
Find A.L.R. annotations using the digest method.
Find A.L.R. annotations using the index method. Find A.L.R. annotations using miscellaneous methods. Identify and use A.L.R. supplementation. Understand the limitations of A.L.R. in legal research.
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Annotations, Generally
The word annotate means to note.
Annotation is especially useful in the law. Annotations are best used early.

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American Law Reports

An important secondary source of legal information.
It is a shortcut for the legal researcher. A.L.R. provides the service of separating the wheat from the chaff.

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A.L.R. Annotations
Over 800 volumes of A.L.R. have been published since 1919 in eight different series.
The original A.L.R. was published from 1919 to 1948. Starting in 1936, annotations were often written to support articles in American Jurisprudence.

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A.L.R. Series
First Series published from 1919 to 1948 in 175 volumes. Second Series published from 1948 to 1965 in 100 volumes. Third Series published from 1965 to 1980 in 100 volumes. Fourth Series published from 1980 to 1992 in 100 volumes.

Fifth Series published from 1992 to 2005 in 125 volumes.

Sixth Series and A.L.R. Federal Second Series were begun in 2005.
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Preparation
The first step is topic selection. The editor makes a search of the subject, including secondary sources. The editor separately researches each annotation, and collects and reads all relevant cases. The rough draft is edited by a revising editor to keep each annotation within the strict rulebook style.

True commentary and creativity are thus kept to a minimum.

An important part of the process is the editors use of the West digest search.
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How to Use the A.L.R.

When using the A.L.R., a step-by-step approach can be helpful. The following is a list of research steps to assist the researcher when using the A.L.R.:
1. Decide if the legal issue is one that involves state or

federal law; 2. Identify descriptive words that can be utilized to research the legal issue; 3. If the legal question involves a state law issue, check the general A.L.R. Index or Digest for a citation to an article; 4. If the legal question involves federal law, consult the A.L.R. Fed. Index or Digest for a cite to an article;
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How to Use the A.L.R.

5. Locate the appropriate article in the

appropriate volume of the A.L.R.;

6. Identify the sources of primary law in the

jurisdiction involving your legal issue;

7. Check the pocket part or other supplement to

ensure that you have the most recent information;

8. Check the history of the annotations to

determine if there are articles that supersede the one you are using.
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Indexes and Digests

A.L.R. Indexes: Described as word-fact indexes. To search for law relating to an automobile

accident, for example, one can search traditional legal words like negligence and due care, along with fact words like automobile and highway. annotation titles and their citations.

Under each entry are the appropriate

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Indexes and Digests

A.L.R. Digests: LCP published a digest for A.L.R. (First Series), a
digest for A.L.R.2d, and a digest for A.L.R.3d, A.L.R.4th, and A.L.R. Fed. Combined. similar to the topics in LCPs encyclopedias.

The law was classified under a few hundred topics Under each topic were annotation titles and their
citations, along with digest paragraphs prepared for the reported cases and their citations. A.L.R. digests with Wests ALR Digest. The digest is a total reclassification according to Thomson/Wests key number taxonomy.
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In 2004, Thomson/West replaced all the previous

Other A.L.R. Annotation Finders Total Client Service Library:

Finding that lawyers liked buying coordinated
books, in 1961 LCPs marketing department devised a slogan for LCPs national sets: the Total Client Service Library (TCSL). made part of the TCSL.

Every new national set LCP created was then

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Other A.L.R. Annotation Finders Thomson/West Publications:

Since Thomson purchased West in 1996,
references to A.L.R. annotations have increasingly appeared in Thomson/West publications.

A.L.R. annotations can be word-searched

using the Westlaw computer research system.

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Other A.L.R. Annotation Finders Lexis/Nexis Publications

To the extent that Lexis/Nexis publishes
former LCP publications, references to A.L.R. annotations continue to appear in those publications.

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A.L.R. Annotation Supplementation

Blue Books: To supplement A.L.R. (First Series)

annotations, LCP published the A.L.R. Blue Book of Supplemental Decisions. later cases on each annotation topic.

The volumes in this set simply list citations to

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A.L.R. Annotation Supplementation

Later Case Services: To supplement A.L.R.2d annotations, LCP

published the A.L.R. 2d Later Case Service. on each annotation topic, each case is keyed to the appropriate section of the annotation supplemented.

Instead of simply listing citations to later cases

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A.L.R. Annotation Supplementation

Pocket Supplementation: To supplement A.L.R.3d and later

annotations, Thomson/West publishes annual cumulative pocket parts for each volume. of the annotation supplemented.

Each case is keyed to the appropriate section

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A.L.R. Annotation Supplementation

Annotation History Table: One method to keep annotations up to date is
to issue superseding or supplementing annotations.

If the subject matter of an annotation, or a part

of it, has changed significantly, a superseding annotation may be prepared.

If there have been a lot of cases on an

annotated point, but no fundamental changes, a supplementing annotation may be prepared. The new cases are discussed with reference to the original annotation.
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The Limitations of A.L.R. Annotations

Less and less U.S. case law is being annotated.
More and more U.S. case law is going unreported. If there is no A.L.R. annotation on point, you must turn to other sources.

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Summary

The annotation method of finding cases is based on finding cases in a specialized collection of law. If someone has already read, analyzed, and synthesized the relevant law for you, and put it into note form, your research is virtually complete.

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Summary
The reported cases serve as examples of the topics or points annotated. Large annotations have a detailed, logical, section-numbered outline known as a scheme. When using a modern annotation, be aware of its scope statement and the fact that commentary and creativity have been artificially limited.

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Summary
Modern annotations are complemented by pocket supplementation.
To check if an annotation has been supplemented or superseded, consult the Annotation History Table in the last volume of the ALR Index.

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