Updating and the Principle of Stare Decisis
Citators
Citator Resources at Quinney Law Library

Updating and the Principle of Stare Decisis

The American judicial system is based on common law principles. The fundamental underlying theory of the common law is that courts must follow the holdings of earlier, established cases; this is commonly referred to as Stare Decisis. The rationale behind following established precedent is that it forms a stable, predictable body of law under which citizens can form contracts and establishes freedoms on which they can rely. While there are some exceptions where a settled area of common law can be judicially redefined, courts generally adhere very strictly to established precedent.

The concept of a case citator is an outgrowth of the theory of precedent. If you plan to rely on a certain case as the settled authority of an area of common law, then you need to make sure that your case is still good law. Citators do just that and more.

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Citators

Functions of a Citator

Citators perform three important functions in case law research. They let you know how your case made its way through the appeals process, they let you know how many other cases have cited your case and they give you references to secondary sources that have mentioned your case.

Procedural History

The first function of a citator is to verify that the case you want to rely on is still good law. One of the ways that the citator does this is by providing the procedural history of the case. By looking at the procedural history of the case you can get a good idea of how the case made its way through the court system.

For example: Say you are trying to do some research on whether a police officer has probable cause to search a passenger when he pulls the driver over during a traffic stop. You find a favorable Wyoming Supreme Court case that is directly on on point. The case Houghton v. State, 956 P.2d 363 (Wyo 1998) says that probable cause to search a driver does not extend to a passenger. Before you really on the case, you want to make sure it is still good law.

When you use a Citator to update Houghton v. State, this first thing you'll want to look at is the outcome of the case was as it made it's way through the appeals process. Let's take a look. Click here to see the procedural history of Houghton v. State.

The procedural history of a case tells us whether or not the case was reversed by a higher court during the appeals process.

Status of the Case

The second function of a citator is to give researcher an idea of how the case has fared within other courts. Even if you look at the procedural history of your case and find that it hasn't been directly over turned by a higher court during the appeals process, you must not stop there. It is possible that another later case from the same jurisdiction will have the effect of overturning your case.

To see an illustration of case verification click here.

A citator will also let you see how your case has fared in other jursidictions as well. For example you might be researching a 10th Circuit court opinion dealing with age discrimination. The ruling in that 10th Circuit opinion may have been followed by say the 5th and 11th Circuits, while the 9th and 2nd Circuits roundly criticized the opinion and declined to follow it. When you are researching the status of a case, it is often a good idea to see how courts in other jurisdictions have treated your case. This will give a good indication of how influential your case has been.

Secondary Sources

The third function of a Citator is to indicate Secondary Sources that have cited your case. If your case was cited in a law review article or an American Law Reports article, the citator will list these. A good strategy is to use a Citator early in your research. It is one of the fastest ways to hone in on relevant Secondary Sources.

Statutes and Regulations

In addition to cases, Citators can also be used to update Statutes and Regulations. A Citator will give the status of the regulation that you are researching and indicate whether there there is any pending litigation associated with that regulation. Citators will also give references to cases or administrative decisions that have cited the statute or regulation you are researching.

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Citator Resources at the Quinney Library

Print Resources

The traditional method of updating case law is by using a set called Shepards. To find out more about using the print version of Shepards, take a look at the following Research Guides

Update Almost Anything
Shepardize Cases
Shepardize Statutes and Regulations
Shepardize Law Review Articles/Use Subject Shepards

[You can also get to these Research Guides by going to the Quinney Law Library homepage at htttp://www.law.utah.edu/library choosing Research from the rollover menu. From there choose Research Tutorials and Guides and scroll down the page until you see the section entitled Updating Legal Research]

On-line Resources

The more modern method of updating legal resources is to use an electronic Citator. The electronic Citators have the advantages of being more up-to-date and easier to use as well as better indicators of how heavily the cited cased was discussed and the treatment it received.

The Quinney Law Library has public access to KeyCite, Westlaw's Electronic Citator. [Note: To access KeyCite you must be on a computer that has the University of Utah as the Internet Service Provider -- either on campus or off campus by way of a proxy server].

Click here to access KeyCite

[You can also get to KeyCite by going to the Quinney Law Library homepage at http://www.law.utah.edu/library choosing Research from the rollover menu. From there choose Secondary & Other Sources and scroll down the page until you see the section entitled On-line Subcription Services ]

Shepards, Lexis Nexis' Electronic Citator is available through Academic Universe. The access the Shepards is limited to United States Supreme Court Cases however.

Click here to access Shepards for Supreme Court Cases

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