Resolution of disputes presented before the courts follow the doctrine of stare decisis. This doctrine is predicated on the principle that previously decided cases should serve as a model when resolving disputes with similar legal principles or fact patterns. Whether referencing earlier cases to either argue a case should be decided in the same manner or the case under review is sufficiently different, reflects the foundation for a chain of reasoning upon which stare decisis is constructed.
As part of the process of Shepardizing to determine if a case has been overturned, reaffirmed, questioned, or cited by later cases, lists of cases, statutes, and other resources are compiled. These lists are referred to as citators and there are two types:
- Cited authority--the authority being updated (i.e., the original authority)
- Citing authority--an authority citing the original authority
Specifically, citators are used to:
- trace the history of a given authority
- determine if the authority is still "good law" (i.e., legal decision is still valid or holds legal weight)
- identify how courts have treated the authority (i.e., how a legal decision has been used in other cases and determine if it still has the same importance)
- obtain references to secondary sources addressing the same legal issues as the authority
- expand research with additional authority that addresses the same legal issues as the authority
After entering a search and displaying the results, next to each citation is a Shepard's Signal Indicator detailing the subsequent history and treatment of a particular case. In addition, Shepard's reports include Phrase Level Indicators that reflect the value of the editorial phrase. To the right of the cases being cited is a Depth of Discussion Indicator which assesses the various ways citing documents consider the cited reference.
