In
American law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as v ...
, the ''American Law Reports'' are a resource used by American
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
s to find a variety of sources relating to specific
legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...
rules, doctrines, or principles. It has been published since 1919, originally by
Lawyers Cooperative Publishing, and currently by
West (a business unit of
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
) and remains an important tool for
legal research
Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a prob ...
.
Each ALR volume contains several
annotation
An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented Marginalia, in the margin of book page ...
s. An annotation is an article that summarizes the evolution of a very specific legal concept in a concise and precise fashion. The article will either be preceded by the full text of an important relevant
case, or in later series, contain a reference to the text of the case, which is reproduced at the end of the volume.
The article will contain a wide variety of relevant citations to cases from throughout the United States and
secondary sources like
law review
A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provide ...
articles. The range and number of citations is always strongly representative but not always guaranteed to be completely comprehensive.
Although similar in tone to the articles in
legal encyclopedias, ALR annotations are different in that they are not organized alphabetically, and they tend to delve more deeply into a specific legal principle or doctrine, while, in contrast, encyclopedia articles aim for a broader view of the legal issue. In addition, ALR articles are careful to provide cases on both sides of the legal issue and provide listings of cases according to their jurisdiction.
Since the annotations are published in the order the leading cases were decided, there are various finding aids. The combined ALR Index indexes topics covered from ALR2d to the current series of ALR and all series of ALR Fed. West's ALR Digest now follows the classification system of the
West American Digest System, and includes headnotes for the reported cases, as well as references to the annotations. For topics covered entirely by federal law, the softbound Quick Index indexes annotations in ALR Fed. The softbound Table of Cases (for a state case) or ALR Federal Table of Cases (for a federal case) provides ALR references for a particular case. A reader may also use the references in
American Jurisprudence,
Corpus Juris Secundum, and state encyclopedias published by
Thomson West to find a more in-depth discussion in ALR. Finally, ALR articles may also be searched 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 ...
.
ALR has been published in several series (the current series is ALR7th) and there are series of ALR Fed (which focuses on federal law). ALR3d through ALR6th and ALR Fed are updated by pocket part supplements (the first series has a citation service, and ALR2d a Later Case Service). Annotations may be superseded by a later annotation in which the editor reanalyzes the law in light of recent developments.
External links
American Law Reports on Thomson Reuters Westlaw
References
{{reflist
West (publisher)
Law of the United States
Legal research
Legal literature