Cases can be important when doing statutory and regulatory research. Because statutes and regulations are subject to interpretation, the courts often have to make determinations regarding the meaning of particular statutory or regulatory provisions. These judicial interpretations can serve as precedent in future cases.
A number of the statutory code sources discussed in this guide provide references to relevant cases. In U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S., you will often find along with the text of a particular code section summaries of cases that have applied and interpreted that section. In U.S.C.A., these case summaries are referred to as "Notes of Decisions" and in U.S.C.S., they are referred to as "Interpretive Notes and Decisions." After each case summary, you will also see the citation for that case, which you can use to find the full opinion in a case reporter or case law database.
The case summaries and citations contained in the print version of U.S.C.S. are also included in the LexisNexis Academic version of this source. On LexisNexis Academic, you can actually link from the case citations to the full text of the opinions in these cases.
With respect to regulations, while none of the versions of the C.F.R. discussed in this guide provides references to related case law, you may find that some of the cases that interpret statutes also discuss the related regulations. Another option is to run a search in an available federal case law database or website to find related cases. On Nexis Uni, you can search directly for federal cases by selecting the "Cases" on the left side of the search field by clicking the red down button. You can include in your search relevant terms from the text of your regulation as well as the title and section numbers from the relevant C.F.R. citation(s).
Example:
To search on Nexis Uni for federal cases pertaining to 29 C.F.R. § 1625.10, you can enter the title and section numbers as search terms (as shown on the screen shot above).
For additional guidance on how to find cases (with either a known case citation or by keyword), consult the USC Law Library guide How To Find Cases.