Fundamental |American Jurisprudence, 2d
Great places to begin or expand your research

| Am. Jur. 2d was originally published by Lawyer's Cooperative Publishing company, and thus utilizes the Total Client Service Library. In the late 1990's, Am. Jur. 2d was obtained by WestGroup, which now publishes Am. Jur.2d. (For the record, in 2003, WestGroup was purchased by Thomson Publishing. This does not affect the manner in which those books published by WestGroup are researched.)
| THE INDEX The main volumes are hard bound. The topics contained within are listed on the spines of the books. Encyclopedias are made-up of two elements: commentary and footnotes. The commentary, at the top of the page, will discuss the topic. After most sentences, a small raised number is provided. This number refers to the footnotes at the bottom of the page. If the small number is 6, the researcher would find the corresponding footnote number 6 at the bottom of the page. The footnotes contain references to other authority, such as cases, statutes, regulations, rules, and additional secondary sources. These sources are relevant to the sentence that contained the footnote reference number.
| THE MAIN VOLUME The main volumes are hard bound. The topics contained within are listed on the spines of the books. Encyclopedias are made-up of two elements: commentary and footnotes. The commentary, at the top of the page, will discuss the topic. After most sentences, a small raised number is provided. This number refers to the footnotes at the bottom of the page. If the small number is 6, the researcher would find the corresponding footnote number 6 at the bottom of the page. The footnotes contain references to other authority, such as cases, statutes, regulations, rules, and additional secondary sources. These sources are relevant to the sentence that contained the footnote reference number.
| MORE . . . Always check the pocket part of the main volume. If the set is older, the pocket part may become too thick for the volume. In such a case, the publisher will modify the pocket part to become a soft bound supplement. The supplement will be kept on the shelf next to the volume it is updating.