American Jurisprudence 2d: Using the Index

Besides the multi-volume index to all of Am. Jur. 2d, each volume has an index in the back for the Titles in that volume. So, just like with C.J.S., if you know that your issue involves an aspect of, for example, worker’s compensation law, you could bypass the general index and start with the volume containing the Title called “Worker’s Compensation” and use that volume’s index.

But not every broad legal subject will have its own Title in Am. Jur. 2d or in C.J.S.. Those subjects that do are sometimes in a Title with a less-than-intuitive name. For example, in Am. Jur. 2d, employment discrimination is covered in the Title “Job Discrimination.” You might be able to guess that but to locate the discussion of a particular area of law in Am. Jur. 2d, the general index is often invaluable, as is shown in the example on the next page.

You would definitely have to use the general index for Am. Jur. 2d to locate information about the sale of real estate. There is no Title called “Real Estate” and that subject is not covered under the “Property” Title. But if you look up “Real Estate Sales” in the index you will be directed to “Sale or Transfer of Real Property” in the index, which will then lead you to specific sections of the Title “Vendor and Purchaser,” which, as the beginning of that Title shown here indicates, covers the sale of real property.

Like C.J.S., volumes of Am. Jur. 2d are typically supplemented with a pocket part located inside the back cover of the volume. These pocket parts are published annually and contain new case citations and additional material for those Titles contained in that volume. Occasionally, volumes of Am. Jur. 2d are republished and, for at least part of the year, will not have a pocket part. A card, as shown here, will indicate that the volume is up to date and thus has no pocket part.

Since you can find citations to Titles and Sections of Am. Jur. 2d in other materials, what if you have an older cite to a volume that has been recently revised, and the Section number no longer covers the same material? Luckily, like C.J.S., Am. Jur. 2d provides conversion tables for Titles that have been recently revised.

For example, in the graphic shown here is part of the conversion table for the Am. Jur. 2d Title “Taxpayer’s Actions.” The tables are provided at the beginning of any Title that has been revised. Notice that the columns give you the year the superceded older volume was published and the year the current volume was published. So a Section for this Title for a citation from 2000 or earlier would be looked up in the "1974"column to find out in what section that issue is currently discussed, which is shown in the "2001" column.

American Jurisprudence 2d: Cross-References to Other Sets of Books

Am. Jur. 2d is part of a wide “family” of publications. For example, American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms is a standard multi-volume reference work containing, yes, forms related to Pleading and Practice such as a "Petition for Appointment of Guardian for a Minor Child." Another set, American Jurisprudence Legal Forms 2d, contains more transactional forms, such as Franchise Agreements.

Also, recall that Am. Jur. 2d used to be published by Lawyer’s Co-Op. Another Lawyer’s Co-Op publication which, like Am. Jur. 2d, is now published by West Publishing, is American Law Reports, commonly known as “ALR.” Where legal encyclopedias like Am. Jur. 2d and C.J.S. provide broad (i.e., comprehensive) but shallow (i.e., introductory) coverage of the law, ALR provides detailed articles called annotations that go into great depth about very specific legal issues. ALR is sort of an opposite to an encyclopedia: there isn’t necessarily an annotation about everything, but for those narrow issues covered by an annotation, they will go into extensive detail.