1. Purpose
a. To introduce you to a specific legal issue
b. To provide broad discussions of legal issues
c. To provide citations to a few cases, provided in footnotes, from which information in the encyclopedia was derived.
d. To provide references to other materials in which this issue has been discussed.
2. What are Encyclopedias?
a. There are two major sets of Legal Encyclopedias
1) American Jurisprudence Second (AmJur2d)
2) Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.)
b. Entries in encyclopedias are brief texts on particular areas of law.
c. They are arranged alphabetically by topics (subjects) and sub-topics under the major topics. They cover many volumes.
d. They provide references to cases, statutes and other primary sources.
3. To find an Encyclopedia covering your legal issue use the Encyclopedia’s Index (a multi-volume set).
4. Encyclopedia topic contents:
a. A broad discussion of a legal issue.
b. Throughout the text, footnotes are provided. These may contain citations to cases, statutes or other primary sources that support the text.
c. Scope. At the beginning of each topic, there is a “scope” section that briefly describes what is covered under the topic.
d. Outline
1) Each major Topic has an outline near the beginning of the Topic
2) It is a great idea to browse this outline - to get an idea of where your issue fits under the major topic – and – as you browse the outline, you may very well find or discover other issues that will be helpful in understanding various aspects of your issue.
5. Updating
a. In print, pocket parts contain the new materials - information that has been added and cases that have been decided since the main volume was printed.
b. On-line, the updates are included in the text.