JoanShear | 13 March, 2007 09:06
Question: I am trying to use the print version of West’s Federal Practice Digest 4th to find cases under the topic Civil Rights key number 78, but the books go from the topic Children Out of Wedlock directly to Civil Rights Key Number 1001.
Answer: There is no current Civil Rights key number 78. Since 2003 the lowest key number in the topic Civil Rights has been 1001. The most likely explanation for your dilemma is that you are reading the digest topic and key number from Westlaw, and have confused the numerical equivalent of the topic Civil Rights – 78 – with the key number you are looking for under that topic. The top line of a Westlaw headnote display includes just the topic numerical equivalent and the name of the topic, but no individual key number. The next couple of lines provide information on the outline of the law under that topic to help you understand what point of law that key number stands for in that topic. The last line of the header displays the topic and key number as a single word in the form of topic number followed by the letter k followed by and the key number. For example, Civil Rights key number 1078 on Westlaw would look like 78k1078. When using a topic and key number in a Westlaw search you should use this format for greatest accuracy and precision.
If you are really looking for cases that are on the same topic as the old Civil Rights 78, you need to use the key number translation tables at the beginning of the topic Civil Rights. You will need to translate the topic twice, once from the 1972 revision of Civil Rights to the 1989 revision, and then to the 2003 revision of Civil Rights.
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