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Simple English definitions for legal terms

Order of authorities

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A quick definition of Order of authorities:

In legal writing, the order of authorities is the way sources are arranged to support the author's claims. The sources are listed in order of importance, following a specific set of rules. The most important sources are constitutions, followed by statutes, treaties, cases, legislative materials, administrative and executive materials, intergovernmental organizations' resolutions, records, briefs, and petitions, secondary materials, and cross-references to the author's own material. The order of authorities helps readers understand the strength of the author's arguments and the sources used to support them.

A more thorough explanation:

Definition: In formal legal writing, the order of authorities refers to the sources used to validate claims made by the author of the paper. The sources should be arranged according to their order of importance, in accordance with Bluebook Rule 1.4.

Examples:

  • Constitutions - U.S. Federal Constitution, U.S. state constitutions, foreign constitutions, and foundational documents of the United Nations, League of Nations, and European Union.
  • Statutes - Federal, state, and foreign statutes arranged alphabetically by jurisdiction and by codification order.
  • Treaties and other international agreements - arranged by most recently enacted first and continue towards earliest, except foundational documents of the United Nations, League of Nations, and European Union.
  • Cases - arranged by federal, state, foreign, and international courts and agencies, with the most recent decision first and continue towards oldest.
  • Legislative materials - arranged by bills and resolutions, committee hearings, reports, documents, and committee prints, and floor debates.
  • Administrative and executive materials - arranged by federal, state, and foreign materials, with the most recently enacted first and continue towards earliest.
  • Intergovernmental organizations' resolutions, decisions, and regulations - arranged by United Nations and League of Nations, and other organizations alphabetically by name.
  • Records, briefs, and petitions - arranged by the court where filed, using the order of courts given in Section 4 ("Cases") above.
  • Secondary materials - arranged by uniform codes, model codes, and restatements, books, pamphlets, and shorter works in a collection of works by a single author, journal work not written by students, book reviews not written by students, student-written material from law reviews and journals, annotations, magazine and newspaper articles, working papers, unpublished materials that are not forthcoming, and electronic sources.

These examples illustrate the order of authorities in legal writing. The sources are arranged in a specific order, depending on their importance and relevance to the topic being discussed. This helps to ensure that the author's claims are properly supported and validated by authoritative sources.

order | order of examination

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LSD is in decay age of social network
renard99
14:15
^LMAO yeah
renard99
14:15
Basically accepted atp that I'm gonna have to R&R so might as well take up some jobs while I'm at it
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sad. imagine being here in 2005/2010 when it was 100 operational. woe is me
@llama: back when 160s meant t14
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born too late to experience full LSD born too soon to explore the galaxy
14:16
^ gets it
lilypadfrog
14:16
https://www.lsd.law/users/creep/cryptanon this is one of the guys who made the website
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@lilypadfrog: wow more recent than i would have wagered
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how is it so that I creep a rando and their app year is 2005-2005?
14:17
2005-2006* for example
renard99
14:18
^ find that rando in your circle and ask them where they've stored all their cycle letters
ReminiscentZestyFish
14:18
Vandy??
renard99
14:18
Possibly in a dark corner of the attic in a box
VANDY
soyalmondoatmilk
14:18
vandy A let's gooooo
all the Vandy
ReminiscentZestyFish
14:18
Aint no way
jackfrost11770
14:19
Wow that's awesome nothing from vandy
GreyCeaselessMammoth
14:19
what
GreyCeaselessMammoth
14:19
fuck
renard99
14:19
@soyalmondoatmilk: Congratulations!!!
jackfrost11770
14:19
I applied in November
jackfrost11770
14:19
Idk when the As did
GreyCeaselessMammoth
14:19
does anyone know if they usually release all at once or waht
nothing
jackfrost11770
14:20
Well I hope not otherwise I'm screwed
jackfrost11770
14:21
Anderson cooper PLEASEEEEE
For ED and their last wave of decisions it was an email all at once
GreyCeaselessMammoth
14:22
ugh
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