Texas Legal Research: Texas Case Law

Digests are finding tools organized by topic and key number that help researchers find case law. Texas case law is compiled in the Texas Digest. The Texas Digest and Texas Digest 2d are classified by West's Topic and Key Number system for Texas state and federal court decisions from 1886 to present. These are located in the general collection of the Chickasaw Nation Law Library.

Important background concepts:

• Headnotes: Legal publishers add a number of editorial enhancements to case decisions they publish.Editors read the decisions as they come in and identify the important topics and points of law. They then write brief summaries of these important points and assign topics to the summaries. The summaries appear before the text of the decisions and are called headnotes. Headnotes are available in Lexis Advance and Westlaw.
• Key Number System: West's publishers created a hierarchical subject index of the law found in West's Analysis of American Law. The index is divided into approximately 450 topics. Within those topics are subtopics, and each of the subtopics has been assigned a Key Number. As cases are sent to the reporters, West's editors review the cases and write headnotes for each major point of law. The headnotes are assigned one of these Key Numbers and then reprinted in the digest according to their Key Number.

Digests provide access to case law in multiple ways, as set forth below. Once a topic and Key Number is located, these are used to locate applicable cases in the digest.

• Descriptive Word Index: organized by subject; a topic and Key Number is assigned to each subject

• Table of Cases: look up the case name in the "Table of Cases" located at the end of each multi-volume set; a list of the topics and Key Numbers from the headnotes of the case will follow

• Key Numbers: Resources such as A.L.R., Am. Jur. 2^d, C.J.S., West's annotated statutes, and a number of other secondary sources provide references to relevant topic and Key Numbers

• Words and Phrases: alphabetically lists words or phrases that have been judicially defined in the cases indexed by the Digest, and sets out the headnotes, titles, and citations of the cases in which such definitions appear

• Browsing: Go to the topic at the beginning of each volume and browse subjects included until you locate the topic you want. For example, if you know your issue is a habeas corpus issue, you can select the volume on habeas corpus and browse the index until you identify the specific terms you need.

Online case law opinions from Texas can be found in the following places:

• Texas Supreme Court: Orders & Opinions
• Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Orders & Opinions
• Texas Courts of Appeals websites
• Google Scholar
• Subscription Databases: CasemakerX, Fastcase, Lexis Advance, Westlaw

Some common research strategies for online resources include the following:

• Using secondary sources (see the Secondary Sources LibGuide)
• Using annotated codes or regulations
• Using headnotes to find cases with similar headnotes
• Using West's Key Number System
• Using advanced search fields and terms/connectors searching
• Using citators (see the Citators LibGuide)

Digests are finding tools organized by topic and key number that help researchers find case law. Texas case law is compiled in the Texas Digest. The Texas Digest and Texas Digest 2d are classified by West's Topic and Key Number system for Texas state and federal court decisions from 1886 to present. These are located in the general collection of the Chickasaw Nation Law Library.

Important background concepts:

• Headnotes: Legal publishers add a number of editorial enhancements to case decisions they publish.Editors read the decisions as they come in and identify the important topics and points of law. They then write brief summaries of these important points and assign topics to the summaries. The summaries appear before the text of the decisions and are called headnotes. Headnotes are available in  Lexis Advance and Westlaw.
• Key Number System: West's publishers created a hierarchical subject index of the law found in West's Analysis of American Law. The index is divided into approximately 450 topics. Within those topics are subtopics, and each of the subtopics has been assigned a Key Number. As cases are sent to the reporters, West's editors review the cases and write headnotes for each major point of law. The headnotes are assigned one of these Key Numbers and then reprinted in the digest according to their Key Number.

Digests provide access to case law in multiple ways, as set forth below. Once a topic and Key Number is located, these are used to locate applicable cases in the digest.

• Descriptive Word Index: organized by subject; a topic and Key Number is assigned to each subject

• Table of Cases: look up the case name in the "Table of Cases" located at the end of each multi-volume set; a list of the topics and Key Numbers from the headnotes of the case will follow

• Key Numbers: Resources such as A.L.R., Am. Jur. 2^d, C.J.S., West's annotated statutes, and a number of other secondary sources provide references to relevant topic and Key Numbers

• Words and Phrases: alphabetically lists words or phrases that have been judicially defined in the cases indexed by the Digest, and sets out the headnotes, titles, and citations of the cases in which such definitions appear

• Browsing: Go to the topic at the beginning of each volume and browse subjects included until you locate the topic you want. For example, if you know your issue is a habeas corpus issue, you can select the volume on habeas corpus and browse the index until you identify the specific terms you need.