Purchasing Resources for Federal Case Law

Federal case law is comprised of the written decisions published by appellate judges in the federal court system. These decisions are called case law because they represent final decisions on court cases. Traditionally, federal case law was published by the courts in a series of books called case reporters. Case reporters are still in use today, although researchers are more likely to use an electronic database of case law, which is accessible over the Internet, than go to the library and research information in the reporters.

The federal court system is divided into civil courts and criminal courts. Federal case law is likewise bifurcated. Federal statutes and case law are the primary tools attorneys use to practice law in the federal court system. Attorneys rely on laws or case precedent to make their arguments on behalf of their clients. Precedent is the philosophy that drives the legal system in common law jurisdictions.

Precedent applies to federal case law by requiring judges to follow decisions made on issues by prior judges, unless the judge can identify a point of distinction. In this way, the law is consistently applied over time, ensuring that parties to legal actions receive a comparable level of justice. Read more about federal case law from the links on this Business.com page.