Browse by United States Digest Topic

The idea of case research is to locate the nuggets of authority that are available and use them in constructing one’s argument. (Robert C. Berring, Collapse of the Structure of the Legal Research Universe: The Imperative of Digital Information, 69 WASH. L. REV. 9, 11, 1994). The United States has over four million reported cases, with about 120,000 new reported cases
each year. Therefore, the need for systematic case-searching techniques is clear.

Until the advent of Lexis and Westlaw, the most important tool to locate cases was the digest. Digests consist of headnotes from cases arranged by topic. “A legal digest is a compilation of paragraphs containing concise summaries of points in cases, grouped -wrote FREDERICK C. HICKS, MATERIALS AND METHODS OF LEGAL RESEARCH 276 (3d rev. ed. 1942)- under appropriate headings the chief of which are alphabetically arranged.”

Researchers using the printed digest have, as subjectretrieval tools, a topical arrangement by digest topic (including topical cross-references), a scope note for each digest topic showing subject inclusions and related topics, a subdivision analysis for each topic by key number, and a descriptive word index.

Antitrust (Main Topic)

• Antitrust and Trade Regulation

Bankruptcy (Main Topic)

• Bankruptcy
• Debtor and Creditor
• Exemptions
• Homestead

Business Organizations (Main Topic)

• Associations
• Banks and Banking
• Beneficial Associations
• Brokers
• Building and Loan Associations
• Carriers
• Cemeteries
• Charities
• Clubs
• Colleges and Universities
• Corporations
• Credit Reporting Agencies
• Electricity
• Factors
• Gas
• Innkeepers
• Joint Adventures
• Joint-Stock Companies and Business Trusts
• Limited Liability Companies
• Partnership
• Public Utilities
• Railroads
• Religious Societies
• Schools
• Telecommunications
• Urban Railroads

Civil Procedure–Federal (Main Topic)

• Abatement and Revival
• Action
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Audita Querela
• Contribution
• Courts
• Damages
• Declaratory Judgment
• Domicile
• Election of Remedies
• Estoppel
• Evidence
• Bill of Exceptions
• Federal Civil Procedure
• Federal Courts
• Habeas Corpus
• Injunction
• Interpleader
• Judges
• Judgment
• Jury
• Limitation of Actions
• Mandamus
• Prohibition
• Quo Warranto
• Removal of Cases
• Time
• United States Magistrates
• Witnesses

Civil Procedure –State (Main Topic)

• Affidavits
• Appeal and Error
• Appearance
• Attachment
• Abatement and Revival
• Action
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Audita Querela
• Contribution
• Courts
• Damages
• A Declaratory Judgment
• Domicile
• Election of Remedies
• Estoppel
• Evidence
• Exceptions, Bill of
• Federal Civil Procedure
• Federal Courts
• Habeas Corpus
• Injunction
• Interpleader
• Judges
• Judgment
• Jury
• Limitation of Actions
• Mandamus
• Prohibition
• Quo Warranto
• Removal of Cases
• Time
• United States Magistrates
• Witnesses
• Certiorari
• Costs
• Court Commissioners
• Deposits in Court
• Equity
• Execution
• Garnishment
• Justices of the Peace
• Lis Pendens
• Motions
• Ne Exeat
• New Trial
• Notice
• Parties
• Pleading
• Pretrial Procedure
• Process
• Real Actions
• Reference
• Review
• Scire Facias
• Sequestration
• Set-Off and Counterclaim
• Stipulations
• Supersedeas
• Trial
• Venue

Commercial Law (Main Topic)

• Assignments
• Antitrust and Trade Regulation
• Bankruptcy
• Banks and Banking
• Carriers
• Bills and Notes
• Chattel Mortgages
• Consumer Credit
• Contracts
• Fraudulent Conveyances
• Interest
• Novation
• Payment
• Sales
• Secured Transactions
• Warehousemen

Communications (Main Topic)

• Constitutional Law
• Copyrights and Intellectual Property
• Libel and Slander
• Postal Service
• Telecommunications

Criminal Justice (Main Topic)

• Adulteration
• Adultery
• Arrest
• Arson
• Assault and Battery
• Bigamy
• Breach of the Peace
• Bribery
• Burglary
• Compounding Offenses
• Conspiracy
• Controlled Substances
• Convicts
• Counterfeiting
• Criminal Law
• Disorderly Conduct
• Disorderly House
• District and Prosecuting Attorneys
• Disturbance of Public Assemblage
• Double Jeopardy
• Embezzlement
• Escape
• Extortion and Threats
• Extradition and Detainers
• False Personation
• False Pretenses
• Fines
• Fires
• Forfeitures
• Forgery
• Fraud
• Grand Jury
• Homicide
• Habeas Corpus
• Incest
• Indictment and Information
• Infants
• Insurrection and Sedition
• Kidnapping
• Larceny
• Lewdness
• Malicious Mischief
• Mayhem
• Neutrality Laws
• Obscenity
• Obstructing Justice
• Pardon and Parole
• Perjury
• Prisons
• Prostitution
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
• Rape
• Receiving Stolen Goods
• Rescue
• Riot
• Robbery
• Searches and Seizures
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Sodomy
• Suicide
• Treason
• Unlawful Assembly
• Vagrancy
• Weapons

Education (Main Topic)

• Colleges and Universities
• Schools

Employment Law (Main Topic)

• Civil Rights
• Counties
• Labor and Employment
• Municipal Corporations
• Officers and Public Employees
• Social Security and Public Welfare
• States
• Towns
• Unemployment Compensation
• United States
• Workers’ Compensation

Energy (Main Topic)

• Electricity
• Gas
• Mines and Minerals
• Steam
• War and National Emergency

Environmental Law (Main Topic)

• Agriculture
• Environmental Law
• Electricity
• Mines and Minerals
• Fish
• Game
• Navigable Waters
• Nuisance
• Waters and Water Courses
• Zoning and Planning

Estate Planning (Main Topic)

• Adoption
• Charities
• Children Out-of-Wedlock
• Descent and Distribution
• Dower and Curtesy
• Executors and Administrators
• Gifts
• Internal Revenue
• Joint Tenancy
• Life Estates
• Perpetuities
• Powers
• Remainders
• Taxation
• Tenancy in Common
• Trusts
• Wills

Family Law (Main Topic)

• Abortion and Birth Control
• Children Out-of-Wedlock
• Incest
• Infants
• Child Custody
• Child Support
• Divorce
• Husband and Wife
• Marriage
• Parent and Child

Financial Institutions (Main Topic)

• Insurance
• Banks and Banking
• Building and Loan Associations
• Consumer Credit
• A Credit Reporting Agencies

Government Contracts (Main Topic)

• Bridges
• Canals
• District of Columbia
• Drains
• Highways
• Levees and Flood Control
• Public Contracts
• Territories
• Colleges and Universities
• Counties
• Municipal Corporations
• Schools
• States
• Towns
• United States
• Waters and Water Courses

Health (Main Topic)

• Asylums and Assisted Living Facilities
• Chemical Dependents
• Health
• Controlled Substances
• A Social Security and Public Welfare
• Mental Health

Immigration (Main Topic)

• Aliens, Immigration, and Citizenship

Insurance (Main Topic)

• Insurance
• Social Security and Public Welfare
• Unemployment Compensation
• Workers’ Compensation

Intellectual Property (Main Topic)

• Antitrust and Trade Regulation
• Copyrights and Intellectual Property
• Patents
• Torts
• Trademarks

International (Main Topic)

• Ambassadors and Consuls
• Aliens, Immigration, and Citizenship
• War and National Emergency
• Customs Duties
• International Law
• Treaties

Juvenile Justice (Main Topic)

• Infants

Legal Services (Main Topic)

• Attorney and Client
• Attorney General
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Court Commissioners
• Courts
• District and Prosecuting Attorneys
• Judges
• Justices of the Peace
• Reference
• Clerks of Courts
• Notaries

Maritime Law (Main Topic)

• Admiralty
• Collision
• Ferries
• Maritime Liens
• Navigable Waters
• Pilots
• Salvage
• Seamen
• Shipping
• Wharves

Medicare and Medicaid (Main Topic)

• Health

Military Law (Main Topic)

• Armed Services
• Military Justice
• Militia
• War and National Emergency

Products Liability (Main Topic)

• Explosives
• Electricity
• Gas
• Food
• Products Liability

Professional Malpractice (Main Topic)

• Accountants
• Health Infants
• Attorney and Client
• Brokers
• Health
• Infants
• Mental Health
• Religious Societies
• Schools
• Negligence

Real Property (Main Topic)

• Abstracts of Title
• Adjoining Landowners
• Adverse Possession
• Boundaries
• Brokers
• Building and Loan Associations
• Life Estates
• Lis Pendens
• Negligence
• Perpetuities
• Real Actions
• Remainders
• Zoning and Planning
• Common Lands
• Condominium
• Conversion
• Covenants
• Dedication
• Deeds
• Easements
• Ejectment
• Eminent Domain
• Entry, Writ of
• Estates in Property
• Fences
• Fixtures
• Forcible Entry and Detainer
• Improvements
• Landlord and Tenant
• Licenses
• Liens
• Mechanics’ Liens
• Mortgages
• Partition
• Party Walls
• Private Roads
• Property
• Public Lands
• Quieting Title
• Registers of Deeds
• Reversions
• Specific Performance
• Trespass
• Trespass to Try Title
• Vendor and Purchaser
• Waste

Securities and Commodities Regulation (Main Topic)

• Commodity Futures
• Trading Regulation
• Exchanges
• Securities Regulation

Taxation (Main Topic)

• Commerce
• Counties
• Internal Revenue
• Licenses
• Municipal Corporations
• Schools
• Taxation
• Towns

Torts (Main Topic)

• Automobiles
• Death
• False Imprisonment
• Malicious Prosecution
• Assault and Battery
• Attorney and Client
• Civil Rights
• Collision
• Conspiracy
• Food
• Forcible Entry and Detainer
• Fraud
• Gas
• Health
• Innkeepers
• Landlord and Tenant
• Libel and Slander
• Negligence
• Nuisance
• Products Liability
• Railroads
• Shipping
• Torts
• Trespass
• Waste
• Weapons
• Public Amusement and Entertainment
• Seduction
• Trover and Conversion

Transportation (Main Topic)

• Aviation
• Admiralty
• Automobiles
• Bridges
• Canals
• Carriers
• Collision
• Commerce
• Ferries
• Highways
• Railroads
• Seamen
• Shipping
• Turnpikes and Toll Roads

Unemployment Compensation (Main Topic)

• Unemployment Compensation

West System

Over 300,000 headnotes are written each year. West editors place these headnotes into specific digest topics. Editors assign unique and legally
controlling statements topic identifiers from its taxonomy of the law known as the West Topic
and Key Number System (Doyle, 1992; Snyder, 1999; Thomson/West, 2006). Before the advent
of online full-text searching, the West Topic and Key Number System was one of the only ways
to research cases on a given issue. Now, the Topic and Key Number System is used primarily to
augment free text searching and to convince a researcher that he or she has found all of the
appropriate cases on a particular topic. Editors’ initial choice of digest topics for particular headnotes is extremely important. “This initial placement had a tremendous import on any subsequent manipulation of the data.”(Robert C. Berring, Full-Text Databases and Legal Research: Backing into the Future,” 1 HIGH TECH. L.J. 27, 32, 1986).
“Caption, syllabus and headnotes appeared in the same form in all jurisdictions.”(Robert C. Berring, Legal Research and Legal Concepts: Where Form Molds Substance, 75 CAL. L. REV. 15, 21, 1987)

As each case is prepared for publication, a West editor prepares headnotes for the decision. Each headnote represents a point of law or legal rule and each headnote is assigned a key
number. Two locations (digest topics/key numbers) are assigned to some headnotes, but every headnote has to have at least one. The mean number of digest topic/key number postings per
headnote is about 1.13.

The West system divides all legal situations into seven major categories: Persons, Property,
Contracts, Torts, Crimes, Remedies, and Government. These seven areas are now subdivided into 404 individual digest topics, and each of these topics is further subdivided into narrower
subtopics, to each of which West assigns a key number. A particular point of law, then, is known by its digest topic name and by its key number within that topic. The number of digest
topics has remained fairly constant, but the number of key numbers within topics, however, has increased significantly.