Law Library

A digest helps you to find cases on a specific legal issue or topic.

West digests use headnotes and key numbers to organize and summarize all cases by subject. 

Print digests are available in the library, but Kentucky digest is the only we update.

WestlawNext  also offers a searchable key number system

• Before a case is published in a reporter, an editor at West reads the case and selects the important issues of law.
• For each major issue, the editor then writes a short description called a headnote.
• These headnotes are typically found at the beginning of each opinion and help the reader quickly determine the issue(s) discussed in the case.

For example here are some of the head notes for  Tinker v. Des Moines School District, 393 U.S. 503, 89 S.Ct. 733, 21 L.Ed.2d 731 (1969)

Constitutional Law Symbolic speech

Constitutional LawStudent Speech or Conduct