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Full-Text Articles in Law
Finding And Citing The "Unimportant" Decisions Of The U.S. Courts Of Appeals, Peter W. Martin
Finding And Citing The "Unimportant" Decisions Of The U.S. Courts Of Appeals, Peter W. Martin
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
A Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure that took effect at the end of 2006 overturned past policies in several circuits that banned or severely limited citation of unpublished or nonprecedential opinions. All U.S. Court of Appeals decisions issued after January 1, 2007, published or not, may be cited. One of the objections raised by those opposed to the rule rested on concern about access to such opinions, which constitute more than 80% of the annual total. The Judicial Conference committee that drafted and pressed for adoption of the rule pointed out that federal legislation called on the circuit courts to …
Online Access To Court Records - From Documents To Data, Particulars To Patterns, Peter W. Martin
Online Access To Court Records - From Documents To Data, Particulars To Patterns, Peter W. Martin
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
For over a decade the public has had remote access to federal court records held in electronic format, including documents filed by litigants and judicial rulings. First available via dial-up connections, access migrated to the Web in 1998. That and a succession of other improvements to the federal "Public Access to Court Electronic Records" system or PACER prompted the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to proclaim in 2001 that "the advancement of technology has brought the citizen ever closer to the courthouse." Unquestionably, what the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and Judicial Conference of the United States …
Reconfiguring Law Reports And The Concept Of Precedent For A Digital Age, Peter W. Martin
Reconfiguring Law Reports And The Concept Of Precedent For A Digital Age, Peter W. Martin
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
Adherence to the “rule of law” entails a strong commitment to consistency - a belief that throughout a jurisdiction and across time judges should treat like cases alike. For over a century, the U.S. judiciary's pursuit of this aim has relied principally upon print law reports. With unsettling rapidity, digital technology has dislodged that system, in practical fact, if not yet in the way lawyers and judges talk and think about case law. This article explores gains one might hope for from a “judicial consistency” system liberated from the constraints of print, likely effects on concepts of precedent, as well …