Legal Research California Supreme Court and Court of Appeal

Cases decided and ordered to be published by the California courts of review can be found in one of four publications. California Reports and California Appellate Reports contain cases decided by the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal respectively. West's California Reporter contains published cases of both courts. West's Pacific Reporter, a unit of the National Reporter System, also contains cases ordered published by the California Supreme Court.

All cases ordered published are initially available in slip opinion form and can be obtained via the internet from the California Judicial Council Website for a period of 60 days after the opinions are filed. Cases are accumulated and published in pamphlets called Advance Sheets.  Advance sheets are then accumulated and published in permanent bound volumes.

Calif. Supreme Court & Court of Appeal Opinions

Not all cases which are decided by the appellate courts are published. Only those cases which meet the criteria for publication set forth at Rule 976 are published. Pursuant to Rule 977 only published opinions can be cited in pleadings or legal briefs filed with the courts.

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