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

One benefit of using Am. Jur. 2d is that it contains cross-references to material found in these other sets: Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms, Am. Jur. Legal Forms 2d, ALR, as well as a few others.

In the example shown here, in the footnotes for this section of the Am. Jur. Title “Civil Rights” you see an “Annotation References” listed that provides a citation to an annotation in ALR, in this example, ALR Federal. Also note the “Trial Strategy References” that leads you to a citation in Am. Jur. Proof of Facts, another set in the Am. Jur. “family” of legal research materials.

Also, because it is now published by West, Am. Jur. 2d also provides you with West Digest Topic and Key Numbers that are relevant to each area of law covered by the Titles’ outlines.

For example, at the beginning of this section in the Am. Jur. Title “Pollution Control” shown here, among the several “Research References” is a reference to the digest topic “Health and Environment” and key number 25.6(3). Remember, the footnotes in Am. Jur. 2d only contain citations to a few, select cases. To find all relevant case law on an issue, you must use the Digest for a particular jurisdiction. But Am. Jur. 2d’s inclusion of the Topics and Key Numbers saves you a step: after locating a relevant discussion in Am. Jur. 2d, you could begin your research in the digest with the Topic and Key Number provided in that discussion, as is shown here.

For more information about the West Digest Topic and Key Numbers, consult the CALI Lesson "How to Find Case Law Using the Digests."

In addition to the index and the main volumes, there are a few useful additional components to Am. Jur. 2d. A volume of Tables allows you to look up sections of the U.S. Code, Federal Rules of Court, the Code of Federal Regulations, the U.C.C. (and other model acts) and other various materials and locate the Topics and sections where these are discussed.

For example, the portions of tables here show you where in Am. Jur. 2d you can find discussion of the law related to Mann Act violations, found at 18 U.S.C.A. § 2421.

Am. Jur. 2d also has a New Topic Service which contains just that: New Topics that have not yet been integrated into the main volumes of Am. Jur. 2d. These New Topics reside in a separate binder because they are developing areas of law.

The subjects covered in the New Topic Service are included in the general Am. Jur. index, so if you didn’t know what Titles are in the New Topic Service, the index will refer you to these Titles if you look up key words relevant to them.

Am. Jur. 2d also contains a Desk Book, a volume of miscellaneous reference topics. These topics range from copies of the Declaration of Independence and Magna Carta to basic human anatomical diagrams and conversion charts for units of measure.