(''CJS'';
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for 'Second Body of the Law')
[Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals, Published by Wolters Kluwer and written by Deborah E. Bouchoux] is an
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
of
United States law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...
at the federal and state levels. It is arranged alphabetically, into over 430 topics, which in turn are arranged into subheadings. , ''CJS'' consisted of 164 bound volumes, five index volumes and 11 table of cases volumes.
''CJS'' is named after the 6th century of the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
Emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...
, the first
codification of
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
and
civil law. The name literally means 'body of the law'; denotes the second edition of the encyclopedia, which was originally issued as by the American Law Book Company (from 1914 to 1937).
''CJS'' is published by
West in print form and on
Westlaw
Westlaw is an Computer-assisted legal research, online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of ca ...
. The print edition is updated annually with pocket supplements and revised editions of bound volumes. Before Thomson's acquisition of West, ''CJS'' competed against the ''
American Jurisprudence'' legal encyclopedia.
While legal encyclopedias like ''CJS'' were at one time heavily used by the courts, the growth of statutory and regulatory governance has had the effect of eroding this reliance. As such, rather than being used as sources of authoritative statements of law, legal encyclopedias are now more often used as tools for finding relevant case law.
Volumes 82, 97, and 98 of appeared behind the closing credits of the ''
Perry Mason'' television series. Throughout the series, approximately twenty volumes can be seen on the shelf behind Mason's desk.
See also
*
Secondary authority
References
External links
*
West (publisher)
Works about law in the United States
Legal research
Encyclopedias of law
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