Secondary Sources

American Law Reports are similar to an encyclopedia in that they contain articles on specific topics of law. Unlike encyclopedias, the A.L.R. is more selective and structures their articles around a demonstrative case, and the discussion, called an annotation, uses that case to illustrate the evolution of a precise point of law. Finding your topic of study in the A.L.R. is much less certain, but if your topic is covered, it’s like striking gold. The annotations in A.L.R. are in-depth with comprehensive citations. Articles are arranged at random so to access the articles you must use the index located at the end of the set.