Digests A digest is a collection of summaries, similar to headnotes, collected in topical order. They act as an index to case law. For instance, the Pacific Reporter has the Pacific Digest. The Federal Reporter and Federal Supplement have the Federal Practice Digest. The Supreme Court Reporter has the Supreme Court Digest. In addition, West publishes the American Digest System. There are basically three parts to that system:
The research system West incorporates in it’s digests is the Key Number System (See Key Number System). West is the major publisher of digests. Digests do not comment on the legal topic, and they are not law, so they are non-authority. |