Test your basic knowledge |

Certified Legal Research

Subject : certifications
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Ratio decidendi- court's reasoning or basis for its holding and decision






2. A secondary authority which is not the law itself but is - rather - a persuasive presentation by legal scholars of what the law is or what it should be in a particular topic






3. Type of law consisting of legislative enactments called statutes at federal level and ordinances at state levels.






4. Is used in the first 50 volumes of the United States Reports plus all unofficial reporters of Supreme Court decisions






5. Fed. R. App. P. 2.






6. Holding of a case which guides the decisions in future cases involving similar facts and similar legal issues






7. (Dallas - Cranch - Wheaton - Peters - Howard - Black - and Wallace) - which were cited - for example - 1 Dall. 233.






8. Supplement volumes or pocket part supplements should be used






9. American Digest System






10. 1. full name of author 2. designation of type of article (required only if written by student); 3. title of article (italicized or underscored) 4. volume number of law review 5. abbreviated name of law review 6. page number where article begins; and






11. Is an official publication that includes all laws enacted by Congress.






12. Fed. R. Crim. P. 42






13. Signal used to indicate page numbers in another reporter






14. Contain a general commentary on or explanation of the subject.






15. Published by Lawyers Co-op






16. The cited authority contradicts the proposition stated in the memorandum






17. Identified as "United States" in the case name (do not abbreviate as U.S. or as U.S.A.)






18. Supplemented by an individual - cumulative pocket part found at the back of each volume in the series.






19. Caption - date of decision - parallel citations - headnote or syllabus - statement of facts - opinion - holding - rationale - dicta - decision






20. United States Reports






21. Statutes that are collected into a statutory code that are arranged by topic






22. The rules and regulations of federal administrative agencies are cited either to the Code of Federal Regulations (arranged by topic and cited as C.F.R.) or to the Federal Register (arranged chronologically and cited as Fed. Reg.).






23. Decisions concerning federal rules of procedure






24. Compilations of cases and historical matter dealing with various aspects of a code of statute - which contain short summaries of other cases - both for and against






25. Legal encyclopedia published by West






26. Compiled by topic






27. Opinion of the entire court (all judges who heard the case) - as opposed to an opinion written by a specific judge






28. A system where every topic and subtopic is assigned its own key number






29. Indicates that the full citation appears later in the memorandum - brief - or other work.






30. When state government is a party - such as the plaintiff in a criminal case - it is identified in the case name simply as "State" (State v. Jones).






31. Anew on the record - the appellate court must base its decision on the record (no new testimony can be received) but may reach an independent factual finding if the facts from the trial court are "clearly erroneous" based on the record as a whole






32. The process used to synthesize legal principles from all prior cases with similar facts and similar issues of law to arrive at a decision in a specific case






33. Published by West






34. Opinion issued by the majority of the judges of the appellate court; the holding of this opinion may be cited as precedent if all other criteria are met. There is only one in a case






35. Official publication






36. 1. number of the Code title2. abbreviation for the United States Code 3. section symbol - followed by the number of the Code section; and4. date of the Code volume in which the most recent version of the section can be found






37. Persuasive legal authority that consists of law from other jurisdictions - legal encyclopedias - American Law Reports - restatements of law - dictionaries - treatises and periodicals






38. 1. the title (chapter) number 2. abbreviation for the Code of Federal Regulation 3. section number symbol and the section number; and 4. year of publication






39. A syllabus of the court






40. Black's Law and Ballentine's Law






41. Statutes at Large (Stat.)






42. 1. full name of author; 2. the word "Annotation"; 3. title of annotation (underscored or in italics); 4. volume number of A.L.R. series 5. abbreviation for Annotated Law Reports 6. page number where the annotation begins; 7. year of publication






43. Court's explanation; includes the holding - rationale - and dicta






44. A prior case within a particular jurisdiction that has 1. facts and legal issues substantially similar to the facts of the case before the court and 2. it was decided by a majority decision of a higher court of that jurisdiction and 3. the case was r






45. Case law - or judicial opinion - that articulates common law principles






46. Legal encyclopedia published by Lawyers Co-op






47. The entire court participates rather than the permissible quorum. This does not mean that the entire court agrees on the outcome - however.






48. Is a finding tool ONLY - usually compiled by the publisher of the case reporter to which it relates. NEVER cite as legal authority for any purpose.






49. Virginia Koerselman - Comment - Worker's Compensation - 15 Creighton L. Rev. 415 (1981).






50. 88 C.J.S. Trial