Deck 5: Case Law: Reseach and Briefing

Question 1

Most court opinions have at least one dissenting opinion.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Common law may be created when a court decision makes new law.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The decisions of the U.S. district courts are published in the Federal Supplement .

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Most court opinions, when published, are published in three formats.

Question 5

Court decisions available through court websites are referred to as parallel citations.

Question 6

A court opinion usually includes a statement of facts, points of law, rationale, and a dissenting opinion.

Question 7

The syllabus is usually included in the body of a court opinion.

Question 8

The decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court are published in the Federal Reporter .

Question 9

The page and volume number of a decision in an advance sheet is usually not the same as the page and volume number of the bound volume.

Question 10

Case law is far larger in volume than either constitutional or statutory law.

Question 11

The official reporter for the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court is the Supreme Court Reporter .

Question 12

United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition is an unofficial publication of U.S. Supreme Court decisions published by LexisNexis

Question 13

In a case brief, it is not necessary to include background facts.

Question 14

Most of the court opinions in the United States, both federal and state, are published by West.

Question 15

Some opinions are difficult to read because the subject matter is complex or the court may have interpreted the law incorrectly.

Question 16

Selected decisions of state appellate courts are published in the regional reporters.

Question 17

One of the major reasons to read case law is to gain insight into the litigation process.

Question 18

Most federal and state court decisions are not published.

Question 19

A case citation includes the volume number, page number, and name of the reporter(s)where the court opinion may be found.

Question 20

The primary source to determine if an opinion has been reversed is a Shepard's citator.

Question 21

Which of the following are not mentioned in the text as reason(s)for reading and analyzing court opinions?

A)to interpret constitutional and statutory law
B)to locate additional primary and secondary authority
C)to understand the litigation process
D)to gain insight into legal analysis

Question 22

Which of the following are specialized federal reporters?

A)Federal Rules Decisions
B)West's Bankruptcy Reporter
C)United States Claims Court Reporter
D)all of the above
E)a, b, and c

Question 23

In a published court opinion, which of the following element(s)is/are written by the publisher?

A)the syllabus
B)the headnotes
C)the key numbers
D)all of the above
E)a and c