Exam 1: Introduction to Legal Principles and Authorities and the Research Process

Secondary authority cannot be mandatory authority.

ALR is a series of books that contain the text of selected court opinions, along with scholarly commentaries on the opinions.

When a court in State A looks to a decision of a court in State B when deciding an issue, the decision in State B is:

Personal jurisdiction is the extent of a court's authority to hear and resolve specific disputes.

The U.S. Supreme Court may declare laws enacted by state legislatures unconstitutional.

A decision of a state court of appeals is an example of primary authority.

The term case law does not encompass a broader range of law than the term common law.

The best source to obtain a general summary of the law is:

Legal dictionaries include definitions of legal terms and commentaries on the definitions.

Because of the doctrines of stare decisis and precedent, courts can be relied on to reach the same decision on an issue as earlier courts when the cases are sufficiently similar.

A constitution is not an example of enacted law.

A court of appeals may:

Constitutions:

The best source to obtain a review of selected court opinions on specific topics and scholarly commentaries on the opinions is:

Not all primary authority is mandatory authority.

The highest legal authority in a jurisdiction is the:

Law reviews are usually published by law schools.

For a court opinion to be mandatory authority, it must be on point and it must be written by a higher court in the jurisdiction.

A Restatement of the Law is valuable as a research tool because it provides a comprehensive treatment of a specific area of the law.

Administrative law is usually more specific than statutory law.