Chapter 4: Secondary Authority and Other Research SourcesEncyclopedias, Treatises, American Law Reports, Digests, Shepard's

(Book) Putnam....Legal Research, Analysis and Writing

Assignment 3

Consult West's General Digest, Tenth Series.

• Give the name and citation of a 2001 Minnesota case which lists the elements of battery.
• Referring to the Minnesota case, does battery require the intent to injure?
• Cite a Kentucky case providing that fourthdegree assault can be proved only if the result of the assault is physical injury, not death.
• You are researching a question concerning the admissibility of evidence in an arson case. To what key number would you refer?
• You are looking for the case Adams v. Noble. What is the Federal Supplement citation? What United States District Court rendered the decision? Under what key numbers may the case be found?

Assignment 4

Refer to the regional digest for your state (see Exhibit 4-3) or to your state court digest. Give the name and citation of a decision from your state that discusses who is a passenger for purposes of recovering from under- or uninsured motorist insurance coverage. Refer to the case.

• What is the definition of passenger?
• In the alternative, if there is not a definition listed in the case, what are the factors the court will consider in determining if someone is a passenger?
• If there is no decision from your state, what legal encyclopedia reference is listed?
• The New Mexico case in Exhibit 4-1 addresses the same issue. How might it be used to locate a case in your state?

Assignment 5

The client has been charged with shooting at vehicles on an interstate and the penalty is sought to be enhanced as an act of domestic terrorism pursuant to 18 U.S.C.A. 2331. Refer to the United States Code Annotated, locate 18 U.S.C.A. 2331 and answer the following questions:

• Give the ALR cite that addresses what constitutes entrapment to commit federal crimes of terrorism.
• Give the name and citation of the 2015 U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, decision that held a defendant's act of placing elemental mercury in four hospitals was an act of "domestic terrorism."

Assignment 6

Look to your state statute concerning aggravated or armed robbery and the annotations that follow the statute.

• Give the legal encyclopedia reference(s) that refers to aggravated or armed robbery.
• Give the ALR cite (if any) that addresses the question of how the use of an unloaded gun affects criminal responsibility.
• Give the name and citation of any case that answers the question of whether a toy or fake gun is a "dangerous weapon."