National Reporter System
West's National Reporter System (NRS) is a set of law reports for federal courts and appellate state courts in the United States. It started with the North Western Reporter in 1879 which has its origin in The Syllabi (1876, LCCN 2010-213400).
Federal reporters
Federal reporters include:
Title | Abbreviation | Years | Volumes | LCCN |
---|---|---|---|---|
Supreme Court Reporter | S.Ct. | 1882– | 1– | LCCN 99-537 |
Federal Cases | F.Cas. | 1789–1880 | 1–30 | LCCN 99-32 |
Federal Reporter | F. | 1880–1924 | 1–300 | LCCN 99-4395 |
Federal Reporter, second series | F.2d | 1924–1993 | 1–999 | LCCN 79-641716 |
Federal Reporter, third series | F.3d | 1993– | 1– | LCCN 90-657017 |
Federal Supplement | F.Supp. | 1932–1997 | 1–999 | LCCN 33-14431 |
Federal Supplement, second series | F.Supp.2d | 1997–2014 | 1–999 | LCCN 89-642487 |
Federal Supplement, third series | F.Supp.3d | 2014– | 1– | |
Federal Rules Decisions | F.R.D. | 1941– | 1– | LCCN 90-657008 |
Bankruptcy Reporter | B.R. | 1980– | 1- | LCCN 80-644389 |
Federal Appendix | Fed.Appx. | 2001– | 1- | LCCN 2001-208088 |
State reporters
For the purpose of state court reporting the 50 states and the District of Columbia are divided into seven regions as follows:
Title | Abbreviation | Years | Volumes | LCCN | States covered |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atlantic Reporter | A. | 1885–1938 | 1–200 | LCCN 75-641819 | CT, DE, DC, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, VT |
Atlantic Reporter, second series | A.2d | 1938–2010 | 1–999 | LCCN 39-6316 | CT, DE, DC, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, VT |
Atlantic Reporter, third series | A.3d | 2010– | 1– | LCCN 90-655067 | CT, DE, DC, ME, MD, NH, NJ, PA, RI, VT |
North Eastern Reporter | N.E. | 1885–1936 | 1–200 | LCCN 75-641653 | IL, IN, MA, NY, OH |
North Eastern Reporter, second series | N.E.2d | 1936– | 1– | LCCN 36-20384 | IL, IN, MA, NY, OH |
North Western Reporter | N.W. | 1879–1941 | 1–300 | LCCN 99-1342 | IA, MI, MN, NE, ND, SD, WI |
North Western Reporter, second series | N.W.2d | 1941– | 1– | LCCN 42-12503 | IA, MI, MN, NE, ND, SD, WI |
South Eastern Reporter | S.E. | 1887–1938 | 1–200 | LCCN 75-641818 | GA, NC, SC, VA, WV |
South Eastern Reporter, second series | S.E.2d | 1938– | 1– | LCCN 89-642322 | GA, NC, SC, VA, WV |
Southern Reporter | So. | 1887–1940 | 1–200 | LCCN 75-641740 | AL, FL, LA, MS |
Southern Reporter, second series | So. 2d | 1940–2009 | 1–999 | LCCN 45-30734 | AL, FL, LA, MS |
Southern Reporter, third series | So. 3d | 2009– | 1– | LCCN 88-647630 | AL, FL, LA, MS |
South Western Reporter | S.W. | 1886–1928 | 1–300 | LCCN 75-643936 | AR, KY, MO, TN, TX |
South Western Reporter, second series | S.W.2d | 1928–1999 | 1–999 | LCCN 88-647631 | AR, KY, MO, TN, TX |
South Western Reporter, third series | S.W.3d | 1999– | 1– | LCCN 88-647631 | AR, KY, MO, TN, TX |
Pacific Reporter | P. | 1883–1931 | 1–300 | LCCN 75-643937 | AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MT, NV, NM, OK, OR, UT, WA, WY |
Pacific Reporter, second series | P.2d | 1931–2000 | 1–999 | LCCN 31-34985 | AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MT, NV, NM, OK, OR, UT, WA, WY |
Pacific Reporter, third series | P.3d | 2000– | 1– | LCCN 89-647235 | AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MT, NV, NM, OK, OR, UT, WA, WY |
These regional reporters are supplemented by reporters for a single state like the New York Supplement (N.Y.S. 1888–1938; 2d 1938–) and the California Reporter (Cal.Rptr. 1959–1991; 2d 1991–2003; 3d 2003–) which also cover the decisions of intermediate state appellate courts.
Additional information
Indices of citations are provided by Shepard's Citations while the West American Digest System offers access by hierarchized keywords.
Today, the NRS is the primary publication route for opinions from the federal courts of appeals, the federal district courts, and state appellate courts in many states that currently do not have an official reporter (either because they never had one or abolished it in favor of the NRS). The NRS is available at law libraries throughout the United States, and is also available through online legal research databases like Westlaw and LexisNexis. However, as the NRS now comprises over 10,000 volumes, only the largest law libraries keep a complete hard copy set on site.
While enormous in size and vast in scope, the NRS is not totally comprehensive. In the 1890s, West retroactively brought all pre-1880 published federal cases into the NRS framework by compiling them into the Federal Cases reporter, but never did the same thing with published state cases that predate the start of the NRS regional or state-level reporters. The NRS does not include opinions from state trial courts, courts administered by territorial governments (as distinguished from federal territorial courts), Indian courts, or administrative agencies at either the federal or state level. Certain opinions from federal courts of appeals and federal district courts are not selected or designated for publication. However, all these materials can be found separately on legal research databases.
See also
External links
- Map of West's National Reporter System
- Albaum, Shelly (2002-10-15). "Past, Present and Future: The National Reporter System Celebrates Historic Anniversary". LLRX.com. Retrieved 2010-05-17.