Chapter 1

• Criminal codes prohibit theft, assault, battery, rape, murder, and other crimes.
• Tax codes require individuals and businesses give a percentage of their income to the government.
• Environmental prohibits the dumping of waste materials in the sea, rivers, or lakes.
• Civil rights codes protect against discrimination and harassment
• Legal analysis is the process of examining laws, legal concepts, and legal cases, then applying them to specific situations to understand or predict potential outcomes.
• "Fact bound" simply means that the outcome of a legal case heavily depends on the specific details and circumstances involved.
• A "cause of action" is a legal term that refers to the reason you might take someone to court. In simpler terms, it's the legal basis for a lawsuit.
• When conducting legal research, attorneys focus on TWO main sources of law:

  1. Enacted Law
  2. Common-made law (common law)
• Enacted law refers to laws that have been formally passed by a legislative body, such as Congress or a state legislature. In simpler terms, it's the laws that have been officially written down and approved.
• Enacted law promotes safety, fairness, and well-being of citizens.
• Statutes are enacted by the U.S. Congress or state legislatures
• Ordinances are laws enacted by local governments
• Regulations are laws enacted by state and federal administrative agencies.
• Examples of enacted law include speed limit, smoking ban, seatbelt law, and minimum drinking age
• Common law is a type of law created by judges when they make rulings on cases. It's often based on past decisions and is used when there isn't a specific law that covers a situation. To put it simply, it's law that's made by judges as they make decisions on cases.
• A court opinion is a written statement by a judge or a panel of judges explaining their decision in a legal case
• The First Circuit is a federal court of appeals that handles cases from several states in the northeastern U.S., including Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Rhode Island.
• The Second Circuit is a federal court of appeals in the United States. It hears cases from the federal district courts in the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont. Essentially, it serves as an intermediary between the district courts (where cases are initially heard) and the Supreme Court, reviewing cases to ensure that the law has been correctly interpreted and applied.
• The Second Circuit Court is 1 of 13 federal appellate courts in the U.S.
• The highest appellate court is the top court in a state's legal system. It reviews appeals from lower state courts and makes the final decision on legal matters within the state. The decisions it makes set important legal precedents for that state.
• Mandatory authority/decisions are rulings from a higher court in the same jurisdiction that involve similar facts and laws
• Persuasive authority/decisions are court decisions from an equal or a lower court from the same jurisdiction or from a court in a different jurisdiction
• The process of looking to precedent -prior cases- for guidance is known as following the doctrine of “stare decisis” which literally means “the decision stands
• Substantive facts are about what happened between the parties before the lawsuit occurred; it's the "reason one party is suing the other"
• Procedural facts are about the events that took place in the lower courts or administrative agencies, as well as the specific actions the appellate court - the court that gives the opinion - took. It also covers how the higher court arrived at its decision in the case.
• Procedural facts include dates, parties involved, legal arguments, court rulings, and procedural rules
• A deposition is the result reached in the case
• When affirming a case,

  • litigants appeal the trial court decision
  • the higher court agrees to what the lower court has done
• When reversing a case,

  • to change or undo a previous decision
  • litigants appeal a lower court decision
  • the higher court disagrees with the decision of the lower court
  • the court found an error was committed
• Overruling a case,

  • means to say “no” to a previous decision
  • court is saying that the previous decision was wrong and should be changed
  • a court in a later case changes the law so that its prior decision is no longer good law
• Remand means

  • to send a case back to a lower court for more work
  • an appellate court sends a case back to the trial court for a new trial or another action
• A concurring opinion agrees with the majority's result, but disagrees with its reasoning. This opinion can also influence the understanding of the law.
• Dissenting opinion is an opinion that disagrees with the majority’s decision and reasoning.
• Case briefing is the process of summarizing the most important elements of a court decision in a standardized format
• format of case briefing includes:

  • (i) case citation
  • (ii) facts - both procedural and substantive
  • (iii) rule
  • (iv) issue
  • (v) holding
  • (vi) reasoning
  • (vii) criticism
• A case citation goes at the top
• This is the criteria for making a case citation

  • name of case
  • the court that decided it
  • where the reader can locate it
  • the year of the decision
  • date of the opinion
  • the page number in textbook (for reference)
• A rule is a general legal principle that was already in place before the case started. The court uses this rule to make its decision in the case
• An issue is a question about how the law should be applied to specific facts
• A holding is the courts answer to the issue. It is the new version of a rule, a rule that future courts will look to for assistance in deciding similar cases