West American Digest System
Encyclopedia
The West American Digest System is a system of identifying points of law from reported cases and organizing them by topic and key number. The system was developed by West Publishing
to organize the entire body of American law
. This extensive taxonomy
makes the process of doing case law
legal research
less time consuming as it directs the researcher to cases that are similar to the legal issue under consideration.
(the West National Reporter System
now covers all state and federal courts). Second, he put together a classification system in which he divided the law into major categories which he called topics (such as "Contracts"). He then created hundreds of subcategories. To save space in printing, these were given a number called a key number. He then applied this "topic and key number" system to the cases he published. The key number is identified in the books with a key number and a key symbol graphic.
who identifies the points of law cited or explained in the case. The editor places the summaries of the points of law covered in the case at the beginning of the case. These summaries are usually a sentence long, and are called headnotes. Each headnote is then assigned a topic and key number. The headnotes are arranged according to their topic and key number in multi-volume sets of books called Digests. A digest serves as a subject index to the case law published in West reporters. Headnotes are merely editorial guides to the points of law discussed or used in the cases, and the headnotes themselves are not legal authority.
West publishes West's Analysis of American Law, which is a complete guide to the topic and key number system, and it is revised periodically.
The digest system includes digests for the individual states (except for Delaware, Nevada and Utah). The U.S. Supreme Court, Bankruptcy Courts, Federal Claims Court, and military courts each have an individual digest, as well as their decisions being included in the Federal Practice Digest with the notes of decisions from the federal District Courts
and Courts of Appeals
. Digests are also published for West's National Reporter System
. Specialty subject digests exist, such as the Education Law Digest, and the Social Security Digest.
For nationwide research, about once a month, West publishes a General Digest volume, which incorporates classified digest notes from all reporters
of the West National Reporter System. These are then cumulated into a Decennial Digest. Decennial implies that this occurs every ten years, but in the past several decades, there have been Decennial Digest Parts I and II (the 11th Series now has Part IIIhttp://west.thomson.com/productdetail/147058/40591956/productdetail.aspx), so the cumulation is now more frequent. However, the various Decennial Digests are not cumulated. Thus, completing such a search over several decades requires consulting the Decennial Digests, and then updating that work with the most recent series of the General Digest.
Some of the state and topical digests are revised to include the first cases in the jurisdiction, while the spines of the books of some of the other digests indicate that they are from "1933 to date," for instance, indicating that one must consult a prior series for references to earlier cases. The state, federal, regional, and topical digests are updated by interim pamphlets, pocket parts, replacement volumes, or a new series.
:
Most secondary sources published by Thomson West, such as Corpus Juris Secundum
and American Jurisprudence
, also have key number hyperlinks in their on-line Westlaw versions.
The "Key Numbers and Digest" feature and the hyperlinks create a "Custom Digest."
The Custom Digest allows:
Selecting key numbers and jurisdictions in the "Key Number Search Tool" results in a similar display of digest headnotes.
Since all West headnote annotations are merged on Westlaw into a single database from which each Custom Digest is generated, there is no need to consult each separate series of the hard copy Decennial Digest. Full text of the cases may be accessed from the Custom Digest by clicking on the underlined case citation. The key number search or KeySearch will retrieve entire cases from a case law database.
(also containing references to cases decided in other Commonwealth
countries), the Canadian Abridgment,http://www.carswell.com/areasofinterest/law/print/abridgment.htm digests associated with official state reports, such as in California
and Wisconsin
, and digests associated with topical reporters, such as the Uniform Commercial Code
Case Digest. Most of these use a topic and section format, while some, like the U.C.C. Case Digest, use a section format based on the statute or rules being annotated. The A.L.R. Digest, accompanying the American Law Reports
, formerly had its own classification system, but was replaced in 2004 by West's American Law Reports Digest, which follows West's topic and key number system.
Thomson West
West publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West has been one of the most prominent publishers of legal materials in the United States...
to organize the entire body of American law
Law of the United States
The law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
. This extensive taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
makes the process of doing case law
Case law
In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...
legal research
Legal research
Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and...
less time consuming as it directs the researcher to cases that are similar to the legal issue under consideration.
History
The problem of finding cases on a particular topic was a large problem for the rapidly growing American legal system of the 19th century. John B. West, the founder of West Publishing, described this problem in his article A multiplicity of reports. To solve the problem, he developed a system with two major parts. First, his company published cases in many American jurisdictions in bound volumes called reportersLaw Reports
The Law Reports is the name of a series of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting.The Council maintains that they are "'the most authoritative reports' and should always be 'cited in preference where there is a choice'." This series is now divided into four main...
(the West National Reporter System
National Reporter System
West's National Reporter System is a set of law reports for both federal courts and appellate state courts in the United States. It started with the North Western Reporter in 1879 which has its origin in The Syllabi ....
now covers all state and federal courts). Second, he put together a classification system in which he divided the law into major categories which he called topics (such as "Contracts"). He then created hundreds of subcategories. To save space in printing, these were given a number called a key number. He then applied this "topic and key number" system to the cases he published. The key number is identified in the books with a key number and a key symbol graphic.
How the Digest System works
Each case published in a West reporter is evaluated by an editorEditing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
who identifies the points of law cited or explained in the case. The editor places the summaries of the points of law covered in the case at the beginning of the case. These summaries are usually a sentence long, and are called headnotes. Each headnote is then assigned a topic and key number. The headnotes are arranged according to their topic and key number in multi-volume sets of books called Digests. A digest serves as a subject index to the case law published in West reporters. Headnotes are merely editorial guides to the points of law discussed or used in the cases, and the headnotes themselves are not legal authority.
West publishes West's Analysis of American Law, which is a complete guide to the topic and key number system, and it is revised periodically.
Print Digest
In print, a digest works like an encyclopedia, in that the topics are listed in alphabetical order and printed on the spines. The "Descriptive Word Index" provides guidance as to the proper topics and key numbers.The digest system includes digests for the individual states (except for Delaware, Nevada and Utah). The U.S. Supreme Court, Bankruptcy Courts, Federal Claims Court, and military courts each have an individual digest, as well as their decisions being included in the Federal Practice Digest with the notes of decisions from the federal District Courts
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
and Courts of Appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
. Digests are also published for West's National Reporter System
National Reporter System
West's National Reporter System is a set of law reports for both federal courts and appellate state courts in the United States. It started with the North Western Reporter in 1879 which has its origin in The Syllabi ....
. Specialty subject digests exist, such as the Education Law Digest, and the Social Security Digest.
For nationwide research, about once a month, West publishes a General Digest volume, which incorporates classified digest notes from all reporters
Law report
Law reports or reporters are series of books that contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. When a particular judicial opinion is referenced, the law report series in which the opinion is printed will determine the case citation format.The term reporter was...
of the West National Reporter System. These are then cumulated into a Decennial Digest. Decennial implies that this occurs every ten years, but in the past several decades, there have been Decennial Digest Parts I and II (the 11th Series now has Part IIIhttp://west.thomson.com/productdetail/147058/40591956/productdetail.aspx), so the cumulation is now more frequent. However, the various Decennial Digests are not cumulated. Thus, completing such a search over several decades requires consulting the Decennial Digests, and then updating that work with the most recent series of the General Digest.
Some of the state and topical digests are revised to include the first cases in the jurisdiction, while the spines of the books of some of the other digests indicate that they are from "1933 to date," for instance, indicating that one must consult a prior series for references to earlier cases. The state, federal, regional, and topical digests are updated by interim pamphlets, pocket parts, replacement volumes, or a new series.
The Digest on Westlaw
Researchers can also search the digest electronically using WestlawWestlaw
Westlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addition, it provides proprietary database services...
:
- with the "Key Number Search Tool," which uses a word search to identify up to five key numbers,
- with the "Key Numbers and Digest" feature (browse by subject using an expandable treeTree structureA tree structure is a way of representing the hierarchical nature of a structure in a graphical form. It is named a "tree structure" because the classic representation resembles a tree, even though the chart is generally upside down compared to an actual tree, with the "root" at the top and the...
- no search terms required), - by a key number search using the "Terms and Connectors" method (with a known topic and key number - in the form of 134k261; topic 134 is Divorce and the key number is 261 for "Enforcement, In general"),
- by using the KeySearch feature (a menu of hierarchicalHierarchyA hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
links that automatically generates a search without the need to see the key numbers or the terms and connectors query), or - by finding a relevant case using keyword searching and then using the key number hyperlinks in the document to find related cases.
Most secondary sources published by Thomson West, such as Corpus Juris Secundum
Corpus Juris Secundum
Corpus Juris Secundum is an encyclopedia of U.S. law . Its full title is Corpus Juris Secundum: Complete Restatement Of The Entire American Law As Developed By All Reported Cases It contains an alphabetical arrangement of legal topics as developed by U.S...
and American Jurisprudence
American Jurisprudence
American Jurisprudence is an encyclopedia of United States law, published by West. It was originated by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, which was subsequently acquired by the Thomson Corporation. The series is now in its second edition, launched in 1962...
, also have key number hyperlinks in their on-line Westlaw versions.
The "Key Numbers and Digest" feature and the hyperlinks create a "Custom Digest."
The Custom Digest allows:
- selection of the jurisdiction of interest (so that headnotes from cases in that jurisdiction will appear in the results);
- limiting the time frame of the search; and
- adding additional search terms.
Selecting key numbers and jurisdictions in the "Key Number Search Tool" results in a similar display of digest headnotes.
Since all West headnote annotations are merged on Westlaw into a single database from which each Custom Digest is generated, there is no need to consult each separate series of the hard copy Decennial Digest. Full text of the cases may be accessed from the Custom Digest by clicking on the underlined case citation. The key number search or KeySearch will retrieve entire cases from a case law database.
Other digest systems
Other digest systems exist, including Butterworth's Digesthttp://rimer.butterworths.co.uk/webcat/enquiry/product/prodInfo.asp?ProdID=460&Text=First&i=cat&Acca=0 for the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(also containing references to cases decided in other Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries), the Canadian Abridgment,http://www.carswell.com/areasofinterest/law/print/abridgment.htm digests associated with official state reports, such as in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and digests associated with topical reporters, such as the Uniform Commercial Code
Uniform Commercial Code
The Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...
Case Digest. Most of these use a topic and section format, while some, like the U.C.C. Case Digest, use a section format based on the statute or rules being annotated. The A.L.R. Digest, accompanying the American Law Reports
American Law Reports
In American law, the American Law Reports are a resource used by American lawyers to find a variety of sources relating to specific legal rules, doctrines, or principles. It has been published since 1919 and remains an important tool for legal research....
, formerly had its own classification system, but was replaced in 2004 by West's American Law Reports Digest, which follows West's topic and key number system.