Statutory law.

Common law consists of oral traditions derived from general customs, principles, and rules handed down over the years and reflected in the decisions of the courts.

Stare decisis, which means to “stand on what has been decided,” is the principle that the decision of a court is binding authority on the court that issued the decision and on lower courts in the same jurisdiction for the disposition of factually similar cases.

True.

False (this is the role of trial courts).

In the Texas Register, published by the Secretary of State, or in the Texas Administrative Code.

The term “source of law” can refer to three concepts: concepts and ideas, such as customs, traditions, principles of morality, and economic, political, philosophical, and religious thoughts; statutory formulations from the federal, state, and local governments; and literature, such as books, online content, law reviews, journals, and periodicals.

Primary authorities are authorized statements of law by governmental institutions, such as written opinions of the court, constitutions, statutes, and rules of court. Secondary authorities are statements about the law that are used to explain, interpret, develop, locate, or update primary authorities.

Binding (or mandatory) authority must be followed by any court lower in the hierarchy. Binding authority is always primary authority, but not all primary authority is binding.

A case is “on point” if it shares the same significant facts with the case at issue and does not differ in any significant facts from the instant case.

A court can reject a decision of a higher court as not being binding by distinguishing the cases on their facts or issues, and thus finding that the previous case is different in some significant way.

False (secondary sources can only be persuasive authority).

The three broad categories are primary sources; secondary sources; and index, search and finding tools.

Primary sources are authoritative statements of legal rules by governmental bodies. They include court opinions, constitutions, statutes, and rules of court. Secondary sources are materials about the law that are used to explain, interpret, develop, locate, or update primary sources. Examples include law reviews, legislative histories, journal articles, newsletter articles, bench books, and procedure guides. These secondary sources can be interpretive and may include analysis and critical commentary.

Bound copies or paper resources are updated through inserts, often called pocket parts for statutes and slip opinions. They are usually updated once a year and are found in the back of each volume or code. When the pocket parts get too bulky, a new hard cover volume is published.

“Black Statutes” (Vernon’s Texas Codes Annotated) is available from West and includes the complete text of the law, case annotations that provide interpretations by courts, cross-reference sections, historical notes and commentaries that give background interpretations of the law, a general index, some individual volume or code indices, an annotation index, and law review article citations.

Lexis and Westlaw.

True.

A citation is a reference to a law or case, or a reference to a source of legal authority that allows a researcher to locate a cited source.

They are reference guides that explain the form and meaning of legal citations, as well as give the proper way to reference and cite legal material.

United States Code

Supreme Court Reporter

Federal Reporter, 2nd Series

South Western Reporter, 2nd Series

versus

Alcoholic Beverage Code

Code of Criminal Procedure

Education Code

Family Code

Government Code

Health and Safety Code

Penal Code

Every two years (in odd-numbered years) for 140 days and when the Governor calls a special session.

The House of Representatives and the Senate.

True.

The following phrases were added: $500, $1,250, and a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 if the person is convicted of a second or subsequent offense under this section committed within five years of the date on which the most recent preceding offense was committed. The following was deleted: $200, and $1,000 The underlined text is new language that is to be added to a statute or code. The “strike-thru” indicates language that is to be deleted.

All of the laws passed by a legislative session that are published in volumes in chronological sequence.

The Texas Legislative Council website or the Texas Legislature Online website.

By the names of the parties to the lawsuit.

In re is used in a case citation to signify that there are no adversarial parties. It means in the affair; in the matter of; concerning.

Ex parte in a case citation means that a special proceeding was involved. It means by or for one party; done for; on behalf of.

The legal editors (rather than the court) write the headnotes.

A majority opinion is usually written by one judge and represents the principles of law that the majority of the court deemed operative in a given decision. It has the greatest precedential value. A concurring opinion agrees with the result reached by the majority, but disagrees with the precise reasoning of the majority.

A plurality opinion is agreed to by less than a majority as to the reasoning of the decision, but it is agreed to by a majority as to the result.

Affirmed denotes that the appellate court reached a decision that agrees with the result reached in the case by the lower court.

Reversed denotes that the appellate court disagrees with the result reached by the lower court in the case.

e law is ever changing; therefore researchers must have an avenue to check the case or statute to determine if it is still “good” law (a law that has not been overturned by case law or a change in the statute). Shepardizing is the easiest and quickest way to determine if a case can be relied upon and has not been reversed by a higher court or overruled by a subsequent decision of the same court. Shepardizing will also help the researcher to determine whether a case has been superseded (or made into “bad” law) by statute. Shepard’s Citations serve numerous purposes: to verify that the case still has precedential value and has not been overturned; to locate parallel citations; to identify other primary and secondary sources of legal information on the topic; and to review writ and petition history notations.

Attorney general opinions are organized by the name of the Attorney General at the time the opinion was released and then numbered chronologically. Example: DM-1 (1991) would refer to the first opinion released by Dan Morales when he took office as the Texas Attorney General.

No.

False (there are several).

Some questions that should be asked to help frame the legal issue are: Which branch of government is involved: legislative, judicial, or executive? Is the matter civil or criminal? Does it involve federal law, state law, or ordinance? Is it substantive or procedural? Who has jurisdiction? Are the sources being consulted binding or persuasive?

Often it is useful to consult secondary sources for an overview of the relevant areas. The search should start with the most general and progress toward the specific.

True.

he law is modified or changed constantly. There may be, for example, a new attorney general opinion or case on the issue since the search was initiated.