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The Citation Code
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Case Library

Case briefs, cited the way the book cites them

Briefs of the cases taught in the first years of law school, by subject and topic. Each gives the facts, issue and holding, IRAC and CREAC versions, key quotes with their pinpoint pages, and the citation in the book’s form, with parallel citations and short forms. The facts, issue and holding are free to read; the full brief, IRAC, CREAC, key quotes and the citation box come with the yearly toolset.

Start with the core cases

The cases nearly every course in the subject teaches.

  • Marbury v. Madison

    Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803).

    Did Marbury have a right to his commission once the President had signed it and the seal of the United States had been affixed?

    Supreme Court of the United States

  • McCulloch v. Maryland

    McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819).

    Does Congress have power to incorporate a bank when the Constitution does not list that power among the enumerated powers?

    Supreme Court of the United States

  • Pennoyer v. Neff

    Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714 (1878).

    Can a state court enter a personal judgment that binds a non-resident defendant who was served only by publication and never appeared?

    Supreme Court of the United States

  • Lochner v. New York

    Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905).

    Was New York's limit of sixty hours a week and ten hours a day for bakery workers a fair, reasonable and appropriate exercise of the State's police power, or an unreasonable, unnecessary and arbitrary interference with the liberty of contract the Fourteenth Amendment protects?

    Supreme Court of the United States

  • Louisville and Nashville Railroad Co. v. Mottley

    Louisville & Nashville R.R. Co. v. Mottley, 211 U.S. 149 (1908).

    Did the federal Circuit Court have jurisdiction over Mottley's suit as one arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, when the federal questions in the case were whether the 1906 act barred performance of the contract and whether that act violated the Fifth Amendment?

    Supreme Court of the United States

  • The T.J. Hooper

    T.J. Hooper, 60 F.2d 737 (2d Cir. 1932).

    Were the barges unseaworthy, and did the record show the due diligence that would excuse them to the cargo owners?

    United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Browse by subject

Learn the method

  • How to brief a case

    The parts of a class brief, what goes in each, and why you should write down the pinpoint page while you read.

  • IRAC and CREAC

    Two ways to organize legal analysis, when each one fits, and where the citations go in each.

How every brief is built

Written from the opinion
Each brief is written from the court’s own opinion, never from a casebook, a headnote or another company’s summary.
Quotes checked word for word
Every key quote is matched against the opinion text, and its pinpoint is the page the words are printed on.
Cited in the book’s form
The citation box gives the full citation, parallel reporters, pinpoints and short forms, each part linked to the rule that explains it.
Published only when it passes
A brief that fails a check is not published. Briefs still being checked are labeled as samples and kept out of search results.

The citation rules behind every box are in the book. Read the chapter on cases