One strategy for finding cases is to start from other legal materials. This page will discuss generally the features of annotated statutes and secondary sources that can help you track down relevant cases.
Unannotated codes give you the text of the law and a history statement. Annotated codes add to this references to other legal materials related to your statute, including secondary sources, attorney general opinions, legal forms, and more. Most importantly, annotated statutes contain case annotations, editorially selected cases that are illustrative of your statute's application. In electronic legal research, you get the added benefit of a citator report with your annotated statute, so you can see not just the illustrative cases, but in fact all cases that have cited your statute. Both are discussed below.
Case Annotations
Citators
If you have started your research with a secondary source, such as a legal encyclopedia or the American Law Reports, references in these materials can also lead you to pertinent case law.
Note: Secondary sources in greater detail in another research guide.
Legal Encyclopedias:
Entries in legal encyclopedias are similar to general encyclopedias, but the content is focused exclusively on law. Entries tend to only be a few paragraphs long, giving a general overview of an area or issue of law. The features of the encyclopedia will vary by title, but things to watch out for include:
American Law Reports:
Articles in the American Law Reports are very lengthy and in-depth, so they come with their own table of contents, index, and research references. The best places to look for cases in one of these articles are: