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Researching Case Law in Print: Official/Unofficial Reporters

A brief description on the basics of case law.

Official Reporters

A reporter published under government authority is known as an official reporter.  The official reporter for United States Supreme Court decisions published by the federal government in United States Reports (U.S.).

 

Examples of the US Reports

Unofficial Reporters

A reporter published by a commercial publisher is an unofficial reporter even though it will contain the same cases at the official reporters. Often unofficial reporters have editorial enhancements to help the legal researcher determine the significance of a particular case. Two unofficial reporters for United States Supreme Court decisions are Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) published by West Publishing, and United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyer's Edition (L. Ed., L. Ed. 2d) published by LexisNexis.