Volume II, Chapter §2.9
 The Foundations of Legal Research

Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.)

§2.9    

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Corpus Juris Secundum has the following key points:

C.J.S. is a national legal encyclopedia
As an encyclopedia, C.J.S. discusses almost every area of law, then refers the researcher to other forms of authority (including law) through the footnotes.

Always start in the index
C.J.S. has a multi-volume index titled the General Index.

C.J.S. is published by West Publishing Company
This is important because West generally utilizes a special research system called the Key Number System. Unfortunately, West chose not to fully incorporate this system into C.J.S. However, more recent editions of C.J.S. do refer to relevant Key Numbers. You will become familiar with this later.

C.J.S. is secondary authority
Because it is not law, C.J.S. is considered secondary authority.

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Demonstration

Introductory tour of C.J.S.

 

Paralegal Perspectives . . .

CORPUS JURIS SECUNDUM
Both encyclopedias are accessed in the exact same way. Start in the index. The index provides a topic and section number leading to the main volume. The main volume includes footnote references that lead to additional authority. Hopefully primary authority (law).

 

Lecture Notes . . .

Corpus Juris Secundum
As with the previous Am. Jur. 2d exercise, it's very important that you read all the information provided in this exercise, then answer the Assignment questions as you go.

The common way to refer to this set of books is by the initials: C.J.S.

As mentioned in this exercise, C.J.S. is published by West Publishing Company. Am. Jur. 2d is published by Lawyer's Cooperative Publishing Company. But why is it important for you to know that?

The reason is simple. They use two very different, but very good, research systems. Publications by West utilize the Key Number System. Publications by Lawyer's Cooperative are part of the Total Client Service Library research system. Knowing this difference will make you a better researcher as we expand into different research materials later in the program.
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ViewPoint

Compare Am. Jur. 2d & C.J.S.
 
 

Commonly Asked Questions . . .

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Legal Research Lab: Law Library

Law Library Lab
(Flash Required)

We recommend that you use the Law Library Lab for C.J.S. both before starting the exercises and after you have completed the exercises (for review). You can always visit the Labs. Just click on the Labs button and navigate to C.J.S., or just CLICK HERE (Flash Required).

Troubleshooting:
If you have problems viewing the Law Library Lab in Internet Explorer, try the following:

1. Click on Tools
2. Click on Compatibility View

In some versions of Internet Explorer, you can simple click on the green Compatibility View icon to the right of the address bar. It has the appearance of a broken page.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Time Sheets

Click on the examples of Time Sheets below to zoom in and compare. Yours should look like the Good example.

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The Good
The Bad
The Ugly

Time Sheet Download

Click here to download a Time Sheet that automatically adds up your billable hours. You should keep track of any research or writing you do on behalf of your client, including the Audio Companion research assignments below as well as other assignments in this chapter.

Audio Companion: Researching C.J.S.

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After you have finished the assignments in the law library, check your answers in by clicking on the Exercise Answers below . But it is critical that you do the Assignments in the law library (or online) first!