Legal Research Exam 1 – Study Guide, Key Concepts & Practice Questions

Legal Research Exam 1 – Study Guide, Key Concepts & Practice
Questions


Legal research - correct answer ✔✔Is the process of finding the law



Sources of Law - correct answer ✔✔Enacted Law &

Case Law



Enacted law or Statute law - correct answer ✔✔The body of law adopted by the people or
legislative bodies, including

constitutions,

statutes,

ordinances, and

administrative rules and regulations.



Case Law - correct answer ✔✔Judicial interpretations of common law principles and doctrines,
as well as interpretations of

constitutional law,

statutory law, and

administrative law.



Federal Court System - correct answer ✔✔(1) Trial Courts. (2) Court of Appeals (3) United States
Supreme Court



State Court System - correct answer ✔✔(1) Trial Courts. (2) Court of Appeals. (3) State Supreme
Court

, Precedent - correct answer ✔✔is an earlier court decision on an issue that applies to govern or
guide a subsequent court in its determination of an identical or similar issue based upon
identical or similar fact



Stare Decisis - correct answer ✔✔"Let the decision stand"...courts generally follow the decisions
of lower courts in similar cases that set a precedent



Authority - correct answer ✔✔may be defined as anything a court may rely on when deciding
an issue.

Includes not only the LAW CREATED by COURTS in the absence of enacted law but also the LAW
CREATED when COURTS INTERPRET or APPLY ENACTED LAW.



Primary Authority - correct answer ✔✔—the law itself;

constitutions,

statutes,

regulations, and

common law/case law

Enacted law



Primary Authority - correct answer ✔✔Is composed of enacted law and case law.



Secondary Authority - correct answer ✔✔IT CONSISTS OF LEGAL RESOURCES

—non law sources a court may rely on, such as

treatises,

Restatements of the Law,

Model Codes, or

legal encyclopedias