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The West Publishing Company key number digest system is the most widely used. West publishes state digests, regional digests, federal digests, and comprehensive digests.
1. STATE DIGESTS
West publishes a separate digest for the judicial decisions in each state, except Delaware, Nevada, and Utah, and for the District of Columbia. Cases from North and South Dakota are combined in one digest, as are cases from Virginia and West Virginia. The digests include all the appellate court decisions for that jurisdiction's courts and all the federal court decisions for cases arising in or appealed from that jurisdiction.
2. REGIONAL DIGESTS
West also publishes a separate digest for each of the Atlantic, North Western, Pacific, and South Eastern Reporters. West digests exist for the North Eastern Reporter for cases until 1972, for the South Western Reporter for cases until 1958, and for the Southern Reporter for cases until 1988. For more recent decisions in these three regions, you can use the relevant state digest or the American Digest System, which is described below. The regional digests include only state court decisions.
3. FEDERAL DIGESTS
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4. COMPREHENSIVE DIGESTS
Finally, West publishes the American Digest System, which includes digest entries for the cases in West's state, regional, and federal digests. The American Digest System is divided chronologically into three parts: (1) the Century Digest, which includes digests of cases decided from 1658 to 1896, (2) the First through Tenth Decennial Digests, which include digests of cases in five-year or ten-year intervals from 1897 to 1991, and (3) West's General Digest, Eighth Series, which includes digests of cases from 1991 to the present. Although the American Digest System is bulky and can be time-consuming to use, it provides a good overview of the case law in all jurisdictions. This overview is particularly valuable to determine trends in the law and to research issues that have not been decided in your jurisdiction. Digests are updated at least annually by "pocket parts," which are inserted into the back of each volume. Therefore, when using a digest, always check the pocket part to ensure that you have the most recent information.
A primary reason for the widespread use of the West digests is their use of the West "key number system." West has categorized the law into groups of topics and subtopics. Each topic has an individual "key number," which consists of a general topic name, such as "Libel," and a number for each subtopic within that topic name. You can find the key number for the issue you are researching by referring to the Descriptive Word Index, which usually is located at the beginning of each digest system. The same key numbers are used in all West publications, including digests (except the Century Digest) and case reporters, to form a uniform and comprehensive system of legal reference.
For a better understanding of the West digest system, try working through the following research problem. Assume that you represent a client in Iowa who wants to know if her child can be subjected to corporal punishment in a public grade school. You would begin your research by looking for the relevant key number in the Descriptive Word Index for the Iowa Digest or for the North Western Digest, which is the region in which Iowa is located. Search for the narrowest applicable topic, which in this case is "Corporal Punishment." Skimming through the entries under "Corporal Punishment," you will find "PUPILS of public schools. Schools 176." Next, you should check the pocket part of the Descriptive Word Index for any more recent entries. Finding none, you now know that the key number you should research is "Schools 176." You should locate the topic "Schools" in the Iowa or North Western Digest and then locate subtopic 176 under "Schools." Under this key number, you will find the citation for an Iowa decision from 1961. The digest entry also includes the citation for any published decision rendered by a court to which the case subsequently was appealed. You then should check the pocket part for any more recent cases. To ensure that the 1961 decision is on point, you should use the case citation to locate the case and then read it to determine what effect, if any, that decision will have on your case.
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