The blue «
Headnotes» button in a CanLII case opens to a page that contains, in addition to case history and judicial consideration, a link to CanLII Connects.
LexisNexis» WCBJ database «contains the unedited fulltext judgments and
headnotes or all available criminal cases from courts across Canada since 1980.»
I think it should be noted that Canada Law Book didn't (doesn't) just create great
headnotes to organize the rambling weavings of the common law, they also publish (ed) excellent texts and looseleaf material.
If I have time, I read the French language versions of
headnotes and alerts from la Cour suprême du Canada.
Starting in 1987
the headnotes were translated with funding from the Federal Government (this funding terminated in 2007 and
the headnotes in the N.B.R. (2d) are presently published in English only with French topical cross-references).
A direct consequence of that limited reach is that the contracted for summaries,
headnotes, and headings added to California decisions under the supervision of the reporter's office are not seen, let alone used, by most researchers of California law.
TITLE: LexisNexis
Headnotes.
I have often wondered how young lawyers will understand legal research without benefit of taxonomical hierarchies, digests and
headnotes.
Lend substance to your arguments by using the language of the court instead of relying on third - party
headnotes
It is a fact that no written records exist prior to 1970 that would identify the authors of classification systems or
headnotes that appear in print law reports and that no records exist that transfer copyright from the authors to the legal publishers.
The print versions of these cases are all littered with West copyrighted
headnotes and editorial treatments.
Although there is obviously some value in publishers including value - added information when they publish cases (such as
headnotes, indexing and classification), and there is value in them selecting only the more important cases, they can still do this in only an online environment.
What is the prospect of print volumes of caselaw being produced without
headnotes?
I might, once upon a time, have been prepared to sit down and, starting with the old SCR series, use the index and
headnotes to identify cases where the phrase (or a variation) was likely used, then check the text.
(Let's stipulate that «because CanLII doesn't have
headnotes and the student might have to read the case won't be treated as a useful answer.)
The CCCT recommends the publication of court decisions, subject to publication bans and privacy rules, but does not recommend that courts start annotating such decisions (for example augmenting decisions with
headnotes or cross-references to other court decisions).
At the same time, the legal publishers are unable to prove that they have copyright in their classification systems and
headnotes.
As for your humorous reference to the absence of
headnotes and the comment that the student might have to read the case, I would suggest that the same holds true with many members of the legal profession, yourself of course excluded.
The National Reporter System is a comprehensive set of law reports that contains the decisions of state courts and the federal court system with
headnotes that include the topic and key number from the American Digest System for each legal issue addressed in each headnote.
Most
headnotes for law reports are prepared by editors employed by private law book publishers.
Michael Bommarito's study of opinion
headnotes in over 23,000 Supreme Court cases illustrates the branching form of what this hierarchy looks like when laid out graphically.
Thus far we have had 220 comments, as well as links from fellow blawgers such as Truth on the Market, the Volokh Conspiracy, Opinio Juris, Environmental Law Prof Blog, PropertyProf Blog, Workplace Prof Blog, Tax Prof Blog, Trial Ad Notes, Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog, Fire of Genius, Patently - O, Unincorporated Business Law Prof Blog, CrimProf Blog, Concurring Opinions, Heafey
Headnotes, Legal Research and Writing, the Legal Ethics Forum, and the Legal Profession Blog.
Chad has written articles that have been published in the Dallas Bar Association
Headnotes, the Dallas Business Journal, the Texas Lawyer, The Appellate Advocate (the journal of the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section), The Dicta, and The Texas Lawbook.
How much do you rely on editorial enhancements in cases (such as
headnotes) and citators (such as depth of treatment signals).
Additionally, Bloomberg Law's citator, BCite, is of limited help: it doesn't reference
headnotes in cases (even if BNA
headnotes exist for the case) or include references to statutes and secondary sources.
While CaseCheck + indicates whether a case is still good law, it doesn't indicate depth of treatment or reference
headnotes (the latter is because Casemaker cases are not annotated).
*
Headnotes claim of compatibility does not constitute or infer a direct integration or partnership with any of the softwares or products listed.
Opinion summaries are not to be considered as official
headnotes or syllabi of court opinions.
Cases appear in their original language but key passages have been translated into English and all cases have searchable
headnotes in English.
I'm not talking about
the headnotes West writes or the key numbering it adds, I'm talking about basic information such as the name of the case, the date of the case, the names of the attorneys who argued it, and the page numbers of the opinions.
Headnotes — a brief summary, comment, or explanation, often prepared by an editor and pladed at the beginning of a court decision.
Recently Chief Justice Wagner announced that the Supreme Court will modernize
its headnotes by adding a summary written for regular folks.
The cases and code sections selected for inclusion are presented in full, with
all headnotes and hyperlinks (links that function within the module).
Viewing these points of law for a case has the feeling of viewing
headnotes.
Fastcase still delivers in about 12 hours, but LexisNexis is consistently slower, and Westlaw takes its time — sometimes days — to add
headnotes before publishing the decisions.
The creation of indexes, summaries and
headnotes is today the main business of case law publishing, for either a print or an electronic product, and is done mostly by the private sector.
British Columbia Trial Cases, started 1999, includes 7,663 cases with
headnotes, plus 39,911 cases without
headnotes.
Fast forward and,
headnotes notwithstanding, I find that the benefits we enjoy in comprehensiveness and keyword searching of databases are offset to a large extent by their sheer size.
Is there a need for
headnotes?
One comment in Mirando's column that particularly caught my attention concerned the importance of
headnotes and report collections generally.
British Columbia Appeal Cases, started 1991, includes 12,543 cases with
headnotes, plus 3,369 cases without
headnotes.
So governments are now publishing judicial decisions, but mostly without any summaries or
headnotes.
Headnotes are at risk because the full text of legal decisions without
headnotes are now available free on the Internet from multiple sources.
it is based on the faulty assumption that, because of the speed of electronic searching, indexing is no longer necessary; in fact, electronic searching of a good index is the fastest, most precise, and therefore the safest type of searching; that is what continues to justify the adding of
headnotes and the indexing they start with, to judgements for publishing them;
The editors of case law reports prepare case law enhancements in the form of
headnotes and indexing which are available in print and on the Internet.
[3] For example,
headnotes and indexing may require the untruthful use of the words such as «truth» and «truthful.»
Manupatra has not copied
any headnotes of any publisher.
Based on these judgments and inspired by Westlaw key number and
headnotes system, the Litigation Technique R&D Center of the firm developed an unprecedented case number system, TianTong Key Number, to reveal more legal rules developed in Chinese judicial practice.
Because of the massive amount of law reports required to make the database a credible source of information, I felt that, initially, conversion to «machine - readable» data of
headnotes was feasible.
Since 1972 Maritime Law Book's
headnotes have included a topical key number system.