Fundamental Sources| Shepard's
Great places to begin or expand your research

| Shepard's has three main functions: 1. VALIDATES AUTHORITY If you have found a case, statute, or other authority, how can you be sure the authority is still good law? That it hasn't been overturned. The answer is Shepard's. 2. PROVIDES PARALLEL CITES As we will demonstrate, Shepard's provides parallel citations. Such parallel cites are indicated by the fact that they are in parentheses immediately following the page number being "Shepardized." 3. ACTS AS A CASE FINDER The authority being Shepardized is the CITED authority. Any case that has mentioned, even briefly, that authority will be listed in Shepard's, and is called the CITING authority, because it is "citing" the authority being Shepardized. Since it is citing the authority, chances are that it deals with the same, or at least similar, subject matter. Thus, the researcher could look up these cases for additional authority.
| Validating Authority Above we are Shepardizing a case titled Jones v. Barnes. But what we really care about is the volume, publication and page number because the contents of Shepard's is not organized by case title. Instead, it is organized by volume number, publication, and page number. This is because you really Shepardize a publication as much as you Shepardize a case. The cite is: 318 S.E.2d 164 1. LOCATE CORRESPONDING SHEPARD'S SET First find the set of Shepard's corresponding with the publication of the citation. For instance, if the citation was from the Federal Reporter, we would search for Shepard's Federal Citations. If the citation was from the Colorado Reports, we would search for the set of books titled Shepard's Colorado Citations. In this case, our citation is from the South Eastern Reporter. Thus we need to find the set of Shepard's titled Shepard's South Eastern Reporter Citations. 2. LOCATE THE VOLUME CONTAINING THE VOLUME NUMBER FROM THE CITE Our volume within the South Eastern Reporter is 318. As you can see on the spine of the Shepard's volume on the above, that volume contains citations for the South Eastern Reporter, 2d series, volumes 278 to 443. Volume 318 falls within this set, so we have located the correct volume. (Also not that there is no indication on the spine that this is a Supplement. We do not want to be in a Supplement at this stage, so we're OK. More on this later...)
| 3. LOCATE THE PAGE IN SHEPARD'S COVERING THE VOLUME The page in the image above is from the Shepard's volume covering volume 318 of the South Eastern Reporter, second series. We have turned to the section of the book covering that volume. Look closely on the top right or left corners of the pages. Just as in a phone book, the volume covered at the start of the page is provided. (By the way, Shepard's refers to these references as "Side Heads.) As you can see, Vol. 318 is covered by these pages, so we're on the right track. 4. LOCATE THE PAGE NUMBER FROM THE CITATION The page number for the case we are Shepardizing is page 164. Can you ZOOM in and find 164 on one of these pages? If you can, then we are ready to validate our authority! ________________ PARALLEL CITES Immediately under the page number (164) and the title of the case you will notice a citation in parenthesis. This is the parallel citation. Now, at this point you are probably wondering what the heck that abbreviation is. In fact, what the heck are ALL those abbreviations in Shepard's. The bad news is that Shepard's has created its own little world of citation form. It's not Blue Book, that's for sure! The good news is that every single volume of Shepard's has a Table of Abbreviations that will decipher the abbreviations for you. Don't get frustrated. Just accept it. Now, it's usually not hard to figure out what the abbreviation refers to. Here we have "GaA." This stands for the Georgia Appellate Reports. If it had just been "Ga," it would have represented the Georgia Reports. Not too hard, huh? But you must remember that this citation must be modified to correct BLUEBOOK FORM if you decide to cite it! The correct Blue Book abbreviation for "GaA" would be: Ga. App. VALIDATING THE CASE The case being Shepardized is the CITED CASE. All of the cases below are considered CITING CASES, since they are citing the case being Shepardized. The first cases Shepard's will list are any HISTORY cases that exist. History cases are the same case (Jones v. Barnes) at an earlier or subsequent level of litigation. For instance, if Jones v. Barnes was later appealed, that citation would appear as a history cite. Once again, if there are any history cases, they will be listed first. After any history citations, Shepard's will provide any TREATMENT citations. Treatment cases are those cases that have actually referred to the cited case. Not the same parties, but a totally different legal matter that cited the "Cited" case. Notice the abbreviations on the left hand side of the citations, such as a small f, e, h, r, etc. These are HISTORY and TREATMENT notations. They inform the researcher of the manner in which the citing case has dealt with the cited case. For instance, if the one of the CITING authorities has an "f" next to it, this indicates that the CITING case "followed" the legal logic of the CITED case (the case being Shepardized). If, however, the abbreviation was an "r," this would indicate that the CITING case reversed the decision in the CITED case. To view the list of abbreviations, click on ABBREVIATIONS above. To return to this page, click on VALIDATE. For the case we are Shepardizing, there are no History notations. They would have been listed first. There are, however, several Treatment notations. How many can you count? According to this Shepard's page, is this case still valid? (Answers are provided below.) After referring to the Abbreviation page, you should be have been able to determine that there were 5 Treatment notations. They all "followed" the cited authority. Therefore, this case is still valid. ZOOM in around the page. Notice the other abbreviations. Look for some History notations, as well as Treatment notations. For instance, look at page 144. That case is Martin v. Sears Roebuck and Company. Is it still valid? No. It was both reversed and vacated by later, citing authority. This is how Shepard's validates authority.
| MORE . . . Notice the image above. This image demonstrates every step of the Shepardizing process. Starting in the top, left hand corner, and moving counter-clockwise: THE AUTHORITY In this example, the authority is a case. To validate this case, we go to the Shepard's main volume, immediately underneath the case in the picture. SHEPARD'S MAIN VOLUME The researcher locates the set that corresponds with the publication being Shepardized, and the volume that corresponds with the citation. HARD BOUND SUPPLEMENTS After Shepardizing the main volume, the researcher MUST check any and all supplements. The burgundy colored spine in the center of the page is a hard bound supplement. Zoom in on the bottom of the spine. You should see the word SUPPLEMENT in gold letters. This is the only indication that a volume is a hard bound supplement, so make sure you check for all such volumes carefully. SOFT BOUND SUPPLEMENTS There may up to four soft bound supplements for a single set of Shepard's. They vary in color. The most recent supplement (referred to as an advance sheet) is white. The next is blue (called an intermediate supplement). The next is red (called a cumulative supplement). Finally, the last is yellow (also called a cumulative supplement). There is a logistical reason for the various supplements, but it is not critical to understanding how to Shepardize. The only thing you really need to know is this: ALWAYS CHECK ANY AND ALL HARD BOUND AND SOFT BOUND SUPPLEMENTS! It should be noted that once in a while, there may be no soft bound supplement. This only happens when Shepard's sends out a brand new hard bound volume that consolidates the information contained in the previous soft bound supplements. For a short period, this new hard bound supplement is the most recent supplement available. Finally, you should make sure your library has a complete set of Shepard's. To do this, locate the thinnest of all soft bound supplements (since it will be the most recent). On the cover will be a list titled "WHAT YOUR LIBRARY SHOULD CONTAIN." This will detail the volumes that should be present for that set of Shepard's. For a quick visual review of the Shepard's process, click on the volumes below, from left to right. You may notice that in at least one of the supplements, there is no page number corresponding to your page "164." You needed be concerned that you have made a mistake. If a Shepard's supplement does not provide the page to your cited case, this simply indicates that no further authorities have cited the case. It basically has no effect on the validity of the case.