Federal Reporter
Encyclopedia
The Federal Reporter is a case law
reporter in the United States
that is published by West Publishing. It begins with cases decided in 1880. It was preceded by Federal Cases
. The third and current Federal Reporter series publishes decisions of the United States courts of appeals
and the United States Court of Federal Claims
; prior series had varying scopes that covered decisions of other federal courts as well. Though West is a private company that does not have a legal monopoly over the court opinions it publishes, it has so dominated the industry in the U.S. that legal professionals uniformly cite
to the Federal Reporter for included decisions. It is estimated that the Fourth Series of the Federal Reporter will begin sometime around 2025.
.
Only decisions designated by the courts as "for publication"—those with full precedent
ial value for which citation in court filings is permissible—are included in the Federal Reporter. "Unpublished" decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals may be found in the Federal Appendix
, also published by West. New opinions are first issued by West in weekly pamphlets called "Advance Sheets," to be eventually supplanted by the final hardbound, successively numbered volumes. Three series of Federal Reporter have been published to date.
compilations, and on West's online legal database, Westlaw
. Because individual court cases are identified by case citation
s that consist of printed page and volume numbers, the electronic text of the opinions incorporates the page numbers of the printed volumes with "star pagination" formatting—the numbers are boldfaced within brackets and with asterisks prepended (i.e., [*4]) to stand out from the rest of the text.
Though West has copyright
over its original headnotes and keynotes, the opinions themselves are public domain
and accordingly may be found in other sources, chiefly Lexis, Westlaw's competitor. Lexis also copies the star paginated Federal Reporter numbering in their text of the opinions to allow for proper citation, a practice that was the subject of an unsuccessful copyright lawsuit by West against the parent company of Lexis.
Case law
In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...
reporter in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that is published by West Publishing. It begins with cases decided in 1880. It was preceded by Federal Cases
Federal Cases
Federal Cases, circuit and district courts, 1789–1880 was a law report of cases decided by the United States district and circuit courts between 1789 and 1880. In court citation it is abbreviated F.Cas. It was superseded by Federal Reporter and Federal Supplement....
. The third and current Federal Reporter series publishes decisions of the United States courts of appeals
United States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
and the United States Court of Federal Claims
United States Court of Federal Claims
The United States Court of Federal Claims is a United States federal court that hears monetary claims against the U.S. government. The court is established pursuant to Congress's authority under Article One of the United States Constitution...
; prior series had varying scopes that covered decisions of other federal courts as well. Though West is a private company that does not have a legal monopoly over the court opinions it publishes, it has so dominated the industry in the U.S. that legal professionals uniformly cite
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
to the Federal Reporter for included decisions. It is estimated that the Fourth Series of the Federal Reporter will begin sometime around 2025.
Features and print format
The Federal Reporter organizes court opinions within each volume by the date of the decision, and includes the full official text of the court's opinion. West editors add headnotes that summarize key principles of law in the cases, and Key Numbers that classify the decisions by topic within the West American Digest SystemWest American Digest System
The West American Digest System is a system of identifying points of law from reported cases and organizing them by topic and key number. The system was developed by West Publishing to organize the entire body of American law...
.
Only decisions designated by the courts as "for publication"—those with full precedent
Precedent
In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...
ial value for which citation in court filings is permissible—are included in the Federal Reporter. "Unpublished" decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals may be found in the Federal Appendix
Federal Appendix
The Federal Appendix is a case law reporter published by West Publishing. It publishes judicial opinions of the United States courts of appeals that have been not been selected for publication. Such "unpublished" cases are ostensibly without value as precedent. However, the Supreme Court made a...
, also published by West. New opinions are first issued by West in weekly pamphlets called "Advance Sheets," to be eventually supplanted by the final hardbound, successively numbered volumes. Three series of Federal Reporter have been published to date.
Federal Reporter
| Citation: F. |
| Published: 1880–1924 |
| Volumes: 300 |
Courts covered:
|
Federal Reporter, Second Series
| Citation: F.2d |
| Published: 1924–1993 |
| Volumes: 999 |
Courts covered:
|
| Opinions
|
Federal Reporter, Third Series
| Citation: F.3d |
| Published: 1993–present |
| Volumes: 600+ |
Courts covered:
|
| Opinions
|
Electronic sources
The Federal Reporter, including its supplementary material, is also available at websites including OpenJurist.org, on CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
compilations, and on West's online legal database, Westlaw
Westlaw
Westlaw is one of the primary online legal research services for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and is a part of West. In addition, it provides proprietary database services...
. Because individual court cases are identified by case citation
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
s that consist of printed page and volume numbers, the electronic text of the opinions incorporates the page numbers of the printed volumes with "star pagination" formatting—the numbers are boldfaced within brackets and with asterisks prepended (i.e., [*4]) to stand out from the rest of the text.
Though West has copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
over its original headnotes and keynotes, the opinions themselves are public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
and accordingly may be found in other sources, chiefly Lexis, Westlaw's competitor. Lexis also copies the star paginated Federal Reporter numbering in their text of the opinions to allow for proper citation, a practice that was the subject of an unsuccessful copyright lawsuit by West against the parent company of Lexis.