Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: L. Cindy Dabney
Profession: Student

Category: Book Research--Secondary Sources

So, today, as promised, how to use the ALRs. As you will see the more of these sources I detail the more you will see patterns, like pocket parts. But for now, I want to continue to give you the full treatment as to how to use these books.

As always, I assume that you have a topic in mind. For today I randomly chose liability of a hotel to its guests who use its pool. This is a topic dear to my heart because I'm just about to move out of an apartment with a fantastic pool, and I know that I'm not going to find another like it, because most pools these days that are not privately owned or employ lifeguards only get up to five feet deep. I love to swim, so this annoys me, but there are reasons, specifically that people don't want to get sued, so I thought I'd explore them.

First of all, I want to mention that ALRs have really good "How To Use" pages, and you can always refer to these. They are, as are most paper books, printed by West, so for online stuff they recommend using Westlaw tools, but it is still a good guide for the different ways to get at information in an ALR.

ALRs are divided into different series, we are currently up to the 6th, and in addition to the 6 series there is an ALR Federal. As with most legal books, the more recent the better, but you shouldn't discount an on point article you find in ALR2d. (In fact you should never discount anything on point, but you should always update it and see how much of it is still usable.) ALRs have a couple of indexes. There is the standard ALR index--the one that I am looking at contains entries for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and Federal Series. There is also a larger, one volume book called the ALR quick index--I've got one for the 3rd-6th Series. For the quick index there two different volumes, one for the traditional ALR and one for ALR Federal. As far as I can tell the Quick Index focuses on the most used entries--just comparing the two I can see entries in the multi-volumed index that do not appear in the Quick one, however, I do not know exactly what the difference is.

My entry appears in both. I looked under "Swimming Pools," subcategory "Hotels and Motels" and found "Liability for injury or death of guest..." ...It's a long title that you probably don't care about, but it looks on point. The citation is 55 ALR5th 463. This, as I have said before, means the 55th volume of the 5th Series of ALR, on pg. 463. Viola!

A word as to what you will actually find when you look at an ALR article. The first thing that meets the eye, after the title, is a little blurb explaining what the article is going to talk about. This is followed by a table of contents, dividing the article up into sections. Then comes a section devoted to research on the topic in other secondary sources--this can be good if you are looking for a law review article or something on point. Then a topical index, and finally a list of the cases and statutes used--organized by jurisdiction. Then follows the article itself. Within the article there are many other subdivisions, usually an introduction, and often citations to other ALR articles that might be helpful.

While each article contains, as I mentioned, a list of the cases and statutes used, there is also an inclusive table of cases at the end of each ALR series--these are in paper back, and are usually filed at the end of the series. There is also, usually next to the index, a hard bound table book for rules, regulations, and statutes. Basically, all the hard law that is not case law--organized by type, first federal and then state.

In addition to the index there is another way to navigate around ALRs, and that is that, like cases, they have digests. Not only do they have digests, but they are on the same topic and key number system as case law. (Didn't I tell you that a good topic and key number will tell you everything that you need to know?) I went the long way around through the digests this time. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, so I looked first under "torts" which led me to "negligence," and that took me to "innkeepers" which looked about right for me. "Innkeepers" was divided into 16 sections, and I liked section 10--Injury To Person Of Guest, and 10.3--Defects In Premises Or Appliances In General in particular. So as I said, I took the long way around, and having a good key number would have been the easiest, but it certainly can be done with digests.

Finally, as always, I want to mention updating. You should always update. In the ALRs, like the encyclopedias, this consists mostly of pocket parts. There are pocket parts in everything, from the ALRs themselves, to the digests, even to the Table of Laws, Rules, and Regulations. Pocket parts are used roughly the same everywhere. You head to the back of the book, check your topic and section, or key number, and see if there is anything new there. They will vary a little, but they are simple enough that having used one or two you should be able to figure the rest out. If there is no pocket part, make sure that it is not just so big that instead of tucking it into the back of the book there is a separate little volume, because this can happen sometimes. The overgrown pocket part should be found just after the book it applies to on the shelves. Also, ALRs have something called "Blue Books" which function very similarly to pocket parts. They are their own little paperback books (Blue--who knew?) and contain supplemental decisions for the ALRs. The cover of the Blue Book will tell you what all is included in it.

Well, that about wraps it up for ALRs. This is my last day working for West for the moment, and one of my last days in New Mexico. Thus I want to warn you that this blog is going on hiatus again, but this time with warning, good excuse, and a shorter time period. I am only a few short days away from the bar, and then only about another week before I have to move. I won't have internet service right away, and I won't have a library at my fingertips, but I will be visiting my father soon, and I will take that opportunity to leave paper behind for a while and work on online research. So when we come back, in mid August, our exploration of online resources begins. Wish me luck!