As discussed in more detail in the section of this guide pertaining to Cases: Validating Your Research, it is critical that you validate your research to ensure that the primary source authority you are relying upon is still good law. Statutes can get amended. Courts can declare statutes unconstitutional. To confirm that your statute remains valid, you must use a citator.
The citator in Westaw is KeyCite®, and the citator in Lexis is Shepard's®. Each of these services are quite good, but both are fallible. Each is only as good as its algorithm and its editors. For most statutes, it is fine to rely on one service. However, if it is a statute that is frequently amended and/or relates to a topic where there is pending legislation, you may consider running it through the other citator to double check that the statute remains good law.
When the citator reveals negative authority for your statute, you must READ THE MATERIALS to determine the extent on which you can rely on the statute. When cases declare statutes invalid, frequently only a portion of the statute is at issue, with the remaining portions remaining valid and controlling. Or a statute may be held unconstitutional only when applied to a limited set of circumstances. There may be pending legislation that could effect your statute, but it may be that the legislation is unlikely to get passed. Reviewing the negative authorities will help you determine the extent to which the statute is controlling law.
KeyCite® is the citator in Westlaw. KeyCite can be used to determine whether a statute remains good law.
When you retrieve a statutory section in Westlaw, if a red or yellow flag is displayed, that means that there is negative treatment for that statute. A red flag indicates that the statute has been amended, repealed, superseded, or held unconstitutional in whole or in part. A yellow flag indicates other negative treatment.
These flags can be very helpful, but in order to confirm the validity of you statute, you also should review the statutory history provided by KeyCite, regardless of whether or not your case has been flagged. When you are in a statutory section in Westlaw, several tabs organize the information about the statutory section. One of these tabs is "History." Click on the "History" tab and select the category "Validity" to review materials that may effect the validity of your statute.
As discussed above, you should not assume that your statute is not valid simply because there is negative authority. You must read the negative treatment cases and review the available information for the pending legislation.
Shepard's® is the citator in Lexis. Shepard's can be used to determine whether a statute remains good law.
When you pull up a statute in Lexis, there are indicators that appear next to the statutory citation to signal if there is negative treatment for the statute. A red circle with a question mark in it indicates that a statute has strong negative treatment. An orange box with the letter "Q" inside means that the validity of statute may be in question, and a yellow triangle means that a statute has other negative treatment. For more information about these and other signals, see the Lexis Advance Help Guide on Shepard's Signal ™ Indicators.
From any statutory section select "Shepardize this document" to generate a report. Review the report and any pending legislation to confirm that your statute remains good law.
To review pending legislation for your statute, select "Pending Legislation" from either the statute or the Shepard's report. Review the list of pending legislation to determine if any have been passed or seem likely to pass. For such bills, click on the links provided to read the text of the bill to determine how it will/may effect your statute.
Review the "analysis" section of the report. Once you have identified cases that negatively treat your statute, you must read the cases to determine the extent to which your statute is controlling.
For more information on using Shepard's, see the Lexis Help page "Using the Shepard's® Citation Service."
 |  |  |  |
© The Regents of the University of California. UCLA School of Law. All Rights Reserved.