Thanks to posts by Brian Allen and links via Google Scholar I've found a great new way to research case law.
For those not aware I'd recommend checking it out - Google Scholar. Quite amazing. Put in your key words and you can even sort out which courts to research (by state). You may specify date ranges. Once you get the case for reading all the cites in the case have links. It shows what future cases have cited your case. You can get to some very specific case law in short order.
With these kind of resources available there can't really be any excuse for a surveyor not researching and knowing the law. It hasn't charged be a dime (yet).
Thanks Brian for showing me the way!
Thanks. I book marked that link for use in the future.
Thanks for posting this info- looks like a great resource.
Chuck Beresford
Seems like the hot set-up to me! I'd be interested to hear Dave Wahlstrom's opinion of this.
SS
Wow, thanks for the best link I've seen in a long time
Thanks guys, however.....
I wish could take the credit, but alas, I learned of that resource (among many things I have learned in the past few years) from John Stahl.
I also use leagle.com, but google scholar, I believe is better.
From Jeff Lucas' book The Pincushion Effect:
"Google Scholar will find a case through either a citation or by name of the parties, but it will not shepardize the case to ensure that you are still reading good law" (Page 14 - 15)
A footnote describes shepardizing thusly:
Shepardizing refers to the process of verifying the current status of a case to determine whether it is still good law or has been overruled, limited, or otherwise diminished.
I am not suggesting that Google Scholar is not useful, quite the opposite. I am suggesting that like many other things in life, one needs to understand the limitations of the tool so as to avoid using outside the scope intended.
Larry P
> I am not suggesting that Google Scholar is not useful, quite the opposite. I am suggesting that like many other things in life, one needs to understand the limitations of the tool so as to avoid using outside the scope intended.
>
> Larry P
As with most things, to be taken with a Grain of Salt.....;-)
Dugger
I'm wondering if Google Scholar hasn't been improved since the Lucas book came out.
It has a How Cited feature that will list out where the case has been cited. So you don't get a direct analysis of what the cites may have changed the case but you do get the cites for review. So you could read the cites and find out how later cases viewed the case.
Lucas states in the book that you can find the case by either a citation or the name of the parties. That's true but its much more powerful than that. You can find cases by searching for words. Say you are interested in the law on latent ambiguity in deeds. So search for latent + ambiguity + deeds + boundary and select the court for the state you are interested in (or no state and get more info than you may want to sort through). You may limit the dates to say the last twenty years or so and get the current version of the law with cases that cite all the older ones that apply.
So even though you don't get the real Shepardizing or Key Cite you get a lot of info and very quick. If you are really into it, say as going to court, you may always fall back to the real thing by then checking your case (after you have found it) on Westlaw or Lexis.
These Google folks really are changing the world. I wonder if they are working on putting all public records online in a searchable data base. Plats, notes and deed records might be in the works for all we know.
I've spent some time in a law library. Had to drive 100 miles, find parking, walk a couple blocks and then sort it out and make copies on a copy machine at 25 cents per page. Now I can do it about anywhere I can get on line. The next generation of surveyors should be well versed in the law, ain't like they can't read it or find it easy and with little effort. Sure wish I'd had this 15 years ago when I still had a lot of time to make it work for me.
