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There are fifty states in the United States. Each state has a set of rules, procedures and forms to follow. The Courts are responsible for prescribing all rules of procedure, pleadings, practice, evidence, and the forms of process, writs and notices, for all proceedings in the state courts. This page contains a link to the Iowa Court Rules, copies of certain forms, and a list of amendments and new rules recently adopted by the court.
Iowa Court Rules
There is a printed version of the Iowa Court Rules. The rules are published by the Legislative Service Bureau of the Iowa Legislature. The rules are directed and guided by Iowa Supreme Court (i.e. each state governs their own set of rules). The similarities are the Supreme Court is the directed guide. The Iowa Court Rules are subject to revision by the Iowa Supreme Court at anytime, (as are the other states rules).
Recent New Rules and Amendments
Throughout the year the Iowa Supreme Court amends court rules and adopts new rules. Each amendment or new rule is accompanied by a court order that contains the effective date of the change. The other states operate in the same manner. Each recent amendment or new rule, along with the court order, is posted.
Court Forms
There are forms posted adopted by the Iowa Supreme Court for use with certain court procedures, including civil, small claims, juvenile, probate, and involuntary commitment for mental illness or substance abuse. These and other forms can also be found in the Iowa Court Rules.
Local Court Rules
Some judicial districts have local rules of practice and procedure. Local rules are posted under the District Court section of the Iowa site by each district that has local rules. In referring to other states, the procedures are similiar with little or no variation.
How to find a case:
Online Legal Research
Tips for online legal research:
If you are looking for a specific case: Many legal search engines allow you to search by case name (one or both parties) or citation. To start out, you might need to know what court made the decision (i.e. whether you are searching for a federal court or state court decision, a U.S. Supreme Court decision, a federal Circuit Court decision, a decision made by the supreme court of a particular state).
U.S. Supreme Court cases are relatively easy to find online. While more and more legal material is available electronically, especially from the federal courts, if the case you are looking for is a state court decision or an older case, you may need to go to a law library to look it up in one of the case reporters (the bound volumes of legal cases from a particular jurisdiction published in chronological order in which they were decided).
When you go to the law library, have the case citation ready to show the librarian. The librarian can direct you to the case reporter you need to find.
If you are looking for general material on an area of the law (for example, defamation and the Internet): First try doing a search on Google or another general-interest search engine. Then, check out some of the legal search engines and run searches in the areas devoted to legal journals and magazines, law reviews, specific legal topics (i.e. Intellectual Property), and legal news.
Finding a Legal Decision
How to find a case:
All of the federal court cases and cases decided by the state supreme courts are printed in volumes called case reporters. Federal cases are recorded in the various federal reporter series; state cases are compiled by region. (For example, Iowa Supreme Court decisions are reprinted in the Northwest Reporter series.)
To find an opinion, you can visit a law library and go through the volumes and indexes there, OR you can use one of the online legal services. (See online legal research below.)
The quickest method of finding a decision is searching by the case’s citation, if you know it. The citation, which appears after the case name, indicates the volume number of the reporter in which the case appears in print, the case reporter in which the case appears, the page number on which the case appears, and the year in which the case was decided. For example, Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919) indicates that the case was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1919 and appears in the United States Reporter that records those cases, in volume 249 on page 47. Feller v. Scott County Civil Service Commission, 435 N.W.2d 387 (Iowa 1988) shows that the case was decided by the Iowa Supreme Court in 1988, and can be found in the Northwest Reporter Second, volume 435 on page 387.
How to Read a Legal Case:
Head notes: Luckily, many court cases (and all U.S. Supreme Court cases) start out with head notes and/or a syllabus that describe what the case is about and what the court decided. However, you still have to read the case carefully, because sometimes the person summarizing the case has made a mistake.
The facts: The judge writing the case usually begins with a summary of the facts of the case — what brought the parties to court.
The issue: The legal issue that the case is all about. Sometimes the judge writing the opinion will refer to the “issue presented” or “question presented” by the case. (There is always at least one.)
The holding: What the court decided — its answer to the question presented by the case. Sometimes the judge will spell it out by using language like “we hold that . . . .”
Legal reasoning: The court must explain why it decided the case the way it did, spell out what precedent it relied on, what facts it considered important.
Concurrences and dissents: If a judge agrees with the result in a decision, but not the reasoning or has something to add, the judge may write a concurrence. If a judge disagrees with the opinion of a majority of the judges, the judge may write a dissent explaining why the judge disagrees. Occasionally, a dissenting opinion will gain credibility and credence over time and eventually become the majority opinion in later cases, though the evolution may take decades. The concurrences and dissents have no value as legal precedent (that is, judges aren’t obliged to follow them in deciding subsequent cases, though sometimes they quote them as persuasive arguments).
All of the federal court cases and cases decided by the state supreme courts are printed in volumes called case reporters. Federal cases are recorded in the various federal reporter series; state cases are compiled by region. (For example, Iowa Supreme Court decisions are reprinted in the Northwest Reporter series.)
To find an opinion, you can visit a law library and go through the volumes and indexes there, OR you can use one of the online legal services. (See online legal research below.)
The quickest method of finding a decision is searching by the case’s citation, if you know it. The citation, which appears after the case name, indicates the volume number of the reporter in which the case appears in print, the case reporter in which the case appears, the page number on which the case appears, and the year in which the case was decided. For example, Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919) indicates that the case was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1919 and appears in the United States Reporter that records those cases, in volume 249 on page 47. Feller v. Scott County Civil Service Commission, 435 N.W.2d 387 (Iowa 1988) shows that the case was decided by the Iowa Supreme Court in 1988, and can be found in the Northwest Reporter Second, volume 435 on page 387.
Related Links
http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/metaindex
http://www.abanet.org/tech/ltrc/lawlink/home.html
http://www.searchbug.com/legal
Links to state and federal courts, law schools, and legal sources: http://www.ncsconline.org/D_KIS/info_court_web_sites.html
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