California Resources

This State Guide provides an in-depth look at sources of law within the state of California.

Cases: Quick Links to Online Sources

Cases: Published Reports In-Depth

Supreme Court Decisions

Databases

Websites

  • Judicial Branch of the California Court Opinions: Supreme Court published opinions 1850 - present, unpublished opinions for last 60 days only.
  • Supreme Court of California (SCOCAL): "SCOCAL is a joint project between Justia and Stanford Law School Library. With annotations written by the Advanced Legal Research class at Stanford Law School, SCOCAL is where readers can locate free opinions from 1934 to the present, annotations, briefs, documents and news relating to California Supreme Court opinions."

Print Reports: California Reports (Cal.)

Titled as Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California, it was the official reporter of decisions of the California Supreme Court.

Databases
  • HeinOnline: California Historical Reports: : Include digitized version of the print California Reports (1850 - 2017), Unreported Cases (1855 - 1910), California Appellate Reports (1857 - 1940) & miscellaneous reports.
  • LLMC Digital: California Historical Reports: Include digitized version of California Reports (1850 - 1934), California Appellate Reports (1905-1923), Unreported Cases (1855 - 1910) & miscellaneous reports.
Website
Print

Print Reports: West's California Reporter (Cal. Rptr.)

An unofficial, annotated compilation of California's Supreme Court and Appellate Court opinions.

Website
Print

Print Reports: West's Pacific Reporter (P.)

An unofficial, annotated regional reporter of argued and determined cases including those in California's Supreme Court.

Database
Website
Print

Print Reports: Los Angeles Daily Journal (L.A. Daily J.)

The Appellate Report (unofficial) is found as an insert to the print journal, providing the full published opinions from the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and the Attorney General. Selected full text from the U.S. District Courts in California and the State Bar Court are also published in the Daily Appellate Report.

Database
Microfilm

Court of Appeal Decisions

Databases

  • CA Courts of Appeal Cases from 1905 on Lexis: Includes official and parallel citations from: 1 Cal. App. 4th (from 1991) 1-235 Cal. App. 3d (1969-1991) 1-176 Cal. App. 2d (1934-1968) 1-140 Cal. App. (1905-1933) 1 Cal. Rptr. 2d (from 1991), 1-286 Cal. Rptr. (1959-1991), 1 P.3d (from 2000), 1-999 P.2d (1931-2000), 81-300 P. (1905-1931). Selected unpublished decisions from 2001 for Court of Appeals.
  • California Courts of Appeal Cases on Westlaw (1905 - )
  • California Courts of Appeal on Bloomberg Law: California Appellate Reports Vol. 1 to 140, California Appellate Reports 2nd Vol. 1 to 276, California Appellate Reports 3rd Vol. 1 to 235, California Appellate Reports 4th Vol. 1 to current. Selected unpublished decisions from 2009 to current.

Print Reports: California Appellate Reports (Cal. App.)

Titled as Reports of Cases Determined in the District Courts of Appeal of the State of California, it is the official reporter of decisions of the California Courts of Appeal.

Databases
  • HeinOnline: California Historical Reports: : Include digitized version of the print California Reports (1850 - 2017), Unreported Cases (1855 - 1910), California Appellate Reports (1857 - 1940) & miscellaneous reports.
  • LLMC Digital: California Historical Reports: Include digitized version of California Reports (1850 - 1934), California Appellate Reports (1905-1923), Unreported Cases (1855 - 1910) & miscellaneous reports.
Website
Print

Print Reports: West's California Reporter (Cal. Rptr.)

An unofficial, annotated compilation of California's Supreme Court and Appellate Court opinions.

Website
Print

Print Reports: Los Angeles Daily Journal (L.A. Daily J.)

The Appellate Report (unofficial) is found as an insert to the print journal, providing the full published opinions from the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel and the Attorney General. Selected full text from the U.S. District Courts in California and the State Bar Court are also published in the Daily Appellate Report.

Database
Microfilm

Unpublished & Depublished Opinions

Unpublished Opinions

Unpublished opinions from last 60 days are found the the California Courts website. After 60 days, the information is transferred to the Appellate Courts Case Information system.

California Rules of Court, Rule 8.1115(a) states: "an opinion of a California Court of Appeal or superior court appellate division that is not certified for publication or ordered published must not be cited or relied on by a court or a party in any other action. Rule 8.1115(b) states the exceptions to this rule. It states: "An unpublished opinion may be cited or relied on: (1) when the opinion is relevant under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel, or (2) when the opinion is relevant to a criminal or disciplinary action because it states reasons for a decision affecting the same defendant or respondent in another such action.

California Court Rules, Rule 8.1120 describes the procedure for requesting publication of unpublished opinions. The request can be made by any person and must be made by letter to the rendering court within 20 days after the opinion is filed. The letter must state the person's interest and the reason why the opinion meets the standard for publication. All parties of interest must be served with the letter. The rendering court must forward the request, a copy of its opinion, its disposition recommendation and a brief statement of its reasons to the Supreme Court within 15 days after the decision is final if it is unable to grant the request before the decision is final. A copy of the recommendation and reasons must also be sent to all parties of interest. The Supreme Court may either grant or deny the request and must send notice of its decision to all parties of interest. The rule states that an order to depublish (i.e., not to publish) is not an "expression of the court's opinion of the correctness of the result of the decision or of any law stated in the opinion."

In 1913, through Bender-Moss Company, Peter V. Ross published a seven volume annotated set of unofficially reported Supreme Court and District Courts of Appeal State of California cases covering decisions from 1855-1910 in a publication titled California Unreported Cases (Cal. Unrep.).

Depublished Opinions

California Court Rules, Rule 8.1125 describes the procedure for depublication of a certified opinion. It states the request can be made by any person by letter to the Supreme Court. The letter must be submitted within 30 days after the decision is final in the Court of Appeals and must state the reason why the opinion should not be published and must be served on the rendering court and all parties. The rendering court or any person may submit a response in support or opposition to the request within 10 days after the Supreme Court receives the request. The response must be served on the rendering court and all parties of interest. The Supreme Court may either deny the request or order the opinion depublished, and send notice of its decision to the rendering court and all parties of interest. The rule states that an order to depublish is not an "expression of the court's opinion of the correctness of the result of the decision or of any law stated in the opinion."

Court Dockets

Docket Search

Case Records & Briefs (Digital):

  • California Supreme Court Briefs of Argued Cases: Judicial Branch of California, from 2010 (free on the web)
  • LA Law Library CA Appellate Brief Request Form: "The LA Law Library maintains one of the most comprehensive collections of California Supreme Court and Court of Appeals briefs, dating back to the establishment of the state. The collection is being digitized for online access."
  • California Public Law Library Briefs Source: Site is provided by Thomson Reuters. "This service provides access to petitions and briefs filed with the California Supreme Court and the California Courts of Appeal. Included on the site are briefs and petitions dated from 1990 for the California Supreme Court, and briefs and petitions dated from 1996 for the California Courts of Appeal. Briefs and petitions can be searched by docket number or case name."
  • LLMC Digital: California All Appellate Courts: Select Records and Briefs tab, then navigate to California.

Case Records & Briefs (Print, Microform):

Court Rules in General

May be found in Lexis' Court Rules and Westlaw's Statutes & Court Rules. Court rules may also be found within the court's web site.

Court Statistics in General

May be found on the court's website, published in the court's administrative office annual reports.

The Florida Courts published a comparative report, State Court Systems Profiles (2010), where each state's court system hierarchy, number of judges, terms of office, governance and funding are summarized.

Case Law Research Tutorial

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