Secondary Legal Sources
Secondary legal resources discuss and analyze the law. Secondary resources include encyclopedias, digests, books, and law reviews.
Primary Legal Sources
Primary legal sources are those recorded rules which will be enforced by the state. Primary resources include statutes (laws enacted by a legislature) and judicial decisions (cases).
Reading a Case Citation
An example of a legal citation to a case is Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483
Brown v. Board of Education refers to the party names.
347 refers to the volume number of the court report.
U.S. refers to the abbreviated name of the court reporter title in which the case is published.
483 refers to the page number of the case.