Using the West’s ALA Digest of Decisions and Annotations

The ALR Digest is just one way of getting into the multi volume American Law Reports (ALR) set.

Use the ALR when you are not familiar with a topic and would like a broad, multi-jurisdictional overview of a subject.

The citations and references will help you to analyze your subject and narrow down the approach to take.

Step One: Using the Subject List

First use the index volume

to locate a fuller list of

subjects that you are

interested .

Note the number 22 – this is a West Key Number and will allow you to locate

similar content in other West publications.

Then use the number and

heading (Official Ballots) to locate your subject in the

digest volume.

Step Two: Locating the Description

Turning to the section that includes your subject and Key Number (Official ballots; 22)

will lead you to a section that includes “Annotations” or references to other ALR

sections; references to cases with brief descriptions

(“Headnotes”) of what was at issue and the citation to locate

the full case (31 A.2.d 640).

The ALR Digest will also provide you with a

reference back to a fuller annotation elsewhere in

the ALR Set.