Legal Definitions - VOL

VOL is an abbreviation for Volume.

In legal contexts, a volume refers to a single book that is part of a larger series, often used to organize collections of legal cases, statutes, or academic writings. Each volume typically covers a specific period or range of content within that series, making it easier to locate specific legal information.

• Example 1: Citing a Court Decision

  When a lawyer refers to a Supreme Court case citation like "456 U.S. 123 (1982)," the number "456" represents the 456th volume of the United States Reports. This specific volume contains the full text of the court's opinion for that particular case, along with others decided around the same time.

  This example illustrates how "volume" is used to pinpoint the exact book in a series where a specific judicial decision can be found.

• Example 2: Locating a Statute

  A legal researcher might be directed to find a particular section of a state's environmental laws in "Vol. 7 of the State Annotated Code." This means they need to consult the seventh physical book in the multi-volume set that compiles and organizes all the codified laws for that state.

  Here, "Vol. 7" clearly indicates which specific book within a comprehensive collection of statutes contains the relevant legal provisions.

• Example 3: Referencing a Law Review Article

  A law student writing a paper might cite an article from a scholarly publication as "78 Harv. L. Rev. 500 (1965)." In this citation, "78" refers to the 78th volume of the Harvard Law Review, a prominent academic journal. The article begins on page 500 of that specific volume.

  This demonstrates how academic legal scholarship, like articles and essays, is also organized into sequential volumes within a journal series.