Pathfinder for Research for Alcohol Laws in the U.S.

Compiled by Colette LaFond, J.D.

II. Secondary Sources

Secondary resources are essential to understanding the overall structure of law related to alcoholic beverages. While primary legal sources provide specific language of applicable law it is always necessary for the researcher to understand how these provisions or rulings fit within the larger context of the given jurisdiction.

The complexity of alcohol law makes this a particularly challenging task, since it is generally constituted by a combination of state and local administrative, statutory and case law. Secondary resources are therefore a necessary component of most research into alcohol law.


A. LEGAL AND GOVERNMENTAL SECONDARY RESOURCES

1. Background Information: American Law Review And Legal Encyclopedias

American Law Reports (ALR) is a useful background resource for defined legal issues, and therefore may be a good starting point for legal research.

However, the ALR is not an authoritative resource, and should therefore be used primarily for the researcher to become familiar with a given legal issue and as a finding tool to gain access to other secondary resources. Similarly, the two national legal encyclopedias, American Jurisprudence (Am Jur 2d) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) do not purport to provide any sort of a complete picture of any given aspect of alcohol law and therefore should not be cited in legal research. Nevertheless, they also can be useful for the researcher in the initial stages of research, as they provide an overview of the contours of and terminology used in law related to alcohol law.

American Law Reports : ALR Digest of Decisions and Annotations: with related total client service library references, ALR 3d, ALR 4th ALR 5th, ALR Fed. (Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co., Rochester, NY, 1992–(5th series))

The ALR covers, in five series, the years from 1919 to the present. Originally a citator, over time the ALR has developed a format much like a law journal article. Each ALR annotation addresses a specific legal issue raised in case law, and provides a narrative discussion of that issue with substantial annotation. So if there is an ALR annotation dealing with a researcher's specific area of interest, it can be a very useful resource.

Each annotation is likely to be more informative for that issue than the discussion of it in the legal encyclopedias. ALRs are updated with pocket parts (beginning with the 3rd series), so they continue to update information on the specific issue over time. The annotations are accessed through the ALR Index to Annotations (the first series has its own index, however). In addition, the annotations include other useful resources, such as LEXIS search queries for particular areas of law.

Because the ALRs take case law as starting points they may be somewhat limited for topics that mainly consist of regulatory law, such as alcohol law. However, there are many topics in alcohol law addressed in the ALRs, particularly related to dram shop law, driving while intoxicated, state authority to regulate advertising of alcoholic beverages, etc.

For Minnesota

Soderberg, Arlette and Goldman, B.L. Minnesota Legal Research Guide. (Hein & Co., Buffalo, NY, Legis 1985) Hardcopy.

Current to 1985, this resource provides a very useful resource to researching Minnesota law in general. It is organized into five sections entitled Historical Overview; Legislative Process and History; Statutory, Administrative and Case Law Research, Secondary Sources, Institutions and Organizations. However, it is indexed, only by broad subject terms and publication names, and alcohol law is not specifically indexed, nor is dram shop law. Rather, this is a useful resource for finding the more general legal resources in Minnesota. Complete bibliographical information, as well as addresses and phone numbers of various institutions and organizations are provided. Also included are four appendixes on: How a Bill Becomes a Law; House & Senate Journal Pages; Minnesota Court Structure; Minnesota Legal Research Checklist.

State Reference Publications: A Bibliographic Guide to State Blue Books, Legislative Manuals and Other General Reference Sources 1993 - 1994.
Hellebust, Lynn, ed. Government Research Service, Topeka, KS, 1993.

This guide provides access to various state reference publications, such as blue books, legislative manuals, and handbooks (Blue books are general reference publications covering information about all three branches of government, along with historical and other information by the state, that are traditionally published by the state governments).

Other useful references included are directories and biographical profiles of state and local government officials and employees, statistical abstracts, and privately published books on the government and politics of the individual state, including their legislatures and local governments.

The guide is organized alphabetically by state, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico are covered. It also has an appendix with entries General State Government Reference Books, Directories (to state and local government officials, lobbyists and regional offices and courts, etc. in all states) and periodicals concerned with state and local government issues in all the states. Given the state and local nature of alcohol law, this guide should prove to be an invaluable aid in finding out who to contact to obtain more information on alcohol law in that state.

Monthly Checklist of State Publications, compiled by Exchange and Gift Division Collections Services, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

This multivolume resource contains listings of all State Documents which have been received by the Library of Congress. Published continually from 1910 to 1994 at six month intervals, these listings include monographs, periodicals and materials from all the states, territories and possession of the U.S., including state blue books, legislative handbooks, guides, miscellaneous statistical sources, legislative journals, agency and subject reports, statistical abstracts, industrial or manufacturing directories, budget/financial documents, historic research guides, legislative research, telephone and education directories, and individual state checklists.

For each publication, the price and pertinent bibliographic information, such a changes in titles and in names of issuing bodies are given when known.” Each volume covers a six month period, and includes a subject index. For research on alcohol laws , see heading “Alcoholic Beverages”.

Unfortunately, this publication has been discontinued due to production costs. Presently a group of law librarians are attempting to recreate this resource on the World Wide Web under the name “StateList Project.” See below under On-Line Resources.

For Minnesota

West’s Minnesota Digest 2d Law Finder (West Publishing, St. Paul, MN., 1988)
This is a master reference guide to Minnesota law in West publications such as Minnesota Statutes Annotated, Minnesota Digest, Minnesota Practice Series, United States Code Annotated, Corpus Juris Secundum, as well as to other federal publications, Key Number publications, texts and treatises. It is arranged by subject, not key number terms. Therefore, alcohol law is found under the more obvious heading “alcoholic beverages” rather than the traditional key number term “intoxicating liquors.”

5. Periodicals

Dram Shop and Alcohol Reporter Beitman, Ronald S. Ed. (Falmouth, Mass., 1996)
Published monthly, this reporter provides summaries of important alcohol-related cases published within the last month.

6. Newsletters

Drugs in the Workplace: Practical Help for the Lawful Preventions, Detection and
Treatment of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Alison Knopt, ed.; Monthly; Business Research Publications, NY

Covers drug testing, legal reviews, EAPs, education programs and new laws.

Drinking/Driving Law Letter. Nichols, Donald H., ed. Biweekly; Callaghan & Co. Deerfield, IL

Provides legal, technical and procedural information on current issues in drunk driving cases.

State Capitals Newsletters: Alcoholic Beverage Control (State Captials Newsletters, Alexandria, VA)

Published weekly, this newsletter claims to provide “impartial reports on state and municipal action across the country.” Coverage includes state laws affecting taxation of alcohol, operation of state alcohol control operations, liquor advertising, liquor law liability, license regulation, drunk driving laws, legal drinking ages, etc. Has brief new summaries and longer articles on changes in alcohol law in specific states.

7.Looseleaf services

Looseleaf services provide some of the most complete current information about a given legal area. They are generally most useful in legal areas that contain a great deal of administrative law, since they collect together in one source all the most important agency regulations and administrative rulings as well as other important legal information and requirements that don’t fit within the statutory and case law format of more traditional legal research.

Defined by their form, looseleaf services consist of binders containing sections of information relating to a particular legal subject that may be removed and replaced with updated versions on a regular basis. They therefore provide a single timely resource for all sorts of legal materials about a given legal topic that would otherwise be difficult to assemble.

The looseleaf format is particularly suited to law concerned with alcohol law, since this area of law has many administrative components in addition to the statutory and case law. There are 2 major looseleaf services in this area: Liquor Control Law Reporter and Liquor Liability Law. In addition, there are two other looseleafs aimed more specifically at legal practitioners working in litigation concerned with drinking and driving: Defense of Drunk Driving Cases: Criminal - Civil, and Drinking/Driving Litigation: Criminal and Civil.

Commerce Clearing House, Inc. Liquor Control Law Reporter (CCH, Chicago, 1996–) 9 vol.

Having provided coverage of alcohol law since Repeal of Prohibition in 1933, this is the standard and most comprehensive looseleaf in this area. It is intended for use by industry, counsel, government and “all others affected by the ever-occuring changes and new developments.” Updated every 2 weeks, the Reporter covers alcohol law of all 50 states and the Federal Government.

The Reporter includes a topical digest that discusses statutory law, regulations, court decisions and administrative ruling in consistently organized structure for each state and the federal government. This allows a researcher to quickly check the same subject for multiple jurisdictions. This topical digest then references full, official texts of state statutes and regulations which are also included in separate sections.

Each reporter's topical digest is fully indexed, to provide access by topic number. The federal materials include a section of finding lists, including references to Custom Service materials, Rulings and Releases by the Federal Alcohol Administration, and other miscellaneous rulings and releases by various federal agencies and the executive branch. Each of the state materials includes tables for finding cases, regulatory opinions, attorney general opinions and other regulatory materials (e.g. bulletins of regulatory agencies). Finally, cumulative indexes for each state and the federal government provide access to the latest judicial and administrative developments.

Mosher, James F. ed. Liquor Liability Law (M. Bender, New York, 1987–) 2 vol.
1996 Supplement by Slavin, David A.

This two volume looseleaf is a comprehensive resource of law related to liquor liability in the United States and Canada. Compiled from the contributions of 28 different authors and updated yearly, it provides information and materials in all major areas of liquor liability law. The following areas are specifically covered: dram shop statutes and acts giving rise to liability; common law actions; employer liability; settlement and release, contribution and indemnity; insurance coverage, server intervention, blood alcohol concentration, and practice and procedure materials (concerned with preliminary investigation; pretrial strategy; trial strategy; and conflict of laws). These areas are covered thoroughly with copious footnotes.

In addition, Liquor Liability Law provides a number of useful research tools. There are four appendixes, the first of which provides summaries of each of the states’ liquor liability laws, including statutory provisions, summary of court decisions and common law liability.

The second and third appendixes include a Model Alcoholic Beverage Retail Licensee Liability Act and a Model Act for Alcohol Server Training Programs. The fourth is a table of illustrative awards and settlements. Besides these appendixes, this looseleaf also contains an extensive Bibliography divided into sections on annotations, encyclopedias, law review articles, law review notes and comments, periodicals, practice guides, restatements, reports, and treatises.

Additionally, the entire looseleaf is thoroughly indexed by subject, by case name and by statute. Given this breadth, Liquor Liability Law is an extremely useful resource for information on all aspects of American liquor liability law.

Erwin, Richard R. Defense of Drunk Driving Cases : Criminal - Civil. 3rd ed. (Matthew Bender, Inc. NY 1996) 4 vol. looseleaf binders, updated yearly.

This comprehensive multivolume handbook is intended for the “average attorney” defending a driving while intoxicated case. However, it contains a great deal of information of interest to a non-practitioner researcher as well. The handbook covers all stages of the process of defense, from discussing the elements of a drunken driving charge to the collection and refutation of evidence to the process of appeal. It devotes nearly one-third of its content to evidentiary analysis, including in-depth explanations of various forms of tests for intoxication. In addition, it contains an appendix, organized alphabetically by state, that summarizes relevant statutory provisions for each state, the District of Columbia as well as providing the test of relevant provisions of the Uniform Vehicle Code. Also included is a Table of Cases and an extensive index.

Nichols, Donald H.Drinking /Driving Litigation: Criminal and Civil (Clark Boardman
Callaghan: Thompson Legal Publishing, NY 1996)

This comprehensive multivolume looseleaf covers issues which arise from the use of an automobile after the consumption of alcohol. In doing so, it covers both driving under the influence as well as liquor liability offenses (dramshop and common law liability). It also thoroughly covers scientific issues as they relate to drinking/driving and liquor liability cases. The focus here is somewhat more practical than Mosher’s looseleaf, and is much more directed to the interests of attorneys working on the defense side of these issues. Updated every six months, if provides relatively current law on in all areas.

The looseleaf contains a very useful glossary (since many aspects of the science and the law in this area are technical and specific to the subject); a bibliography of the scientific literature in this area (arranged by subject); and a table of cases. The index, however, is minimal.

8. Practitioner-related sources

Although looseleaf services are used by practitioners, there are a number of other resources that are even more geared to the day-to-day activities of practitioners. In alcohol law, these are mainly concerned with liquor liability law, since this is the area of law most likely to require the practical expertise of counsel. The following are some of the resources most commonly available.

Beitman, Ronald S. Practitioner’s Guide to Liquor Liability Litigation (American Law Institute and American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education, Philadelphia, 19–)

Beitman, Ronald S. Practitioner’s Guide to Liquor Liability Litigation, 1991 Supplement (American Law Institute and American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education, Philadelphia, 1991)

Less scholarly but more accessible than Liquor Liability Law or Drinking /Driving Litigation, this work contains an overview of the history, development and trends in commercial server and social host liability, as well as separate chapters on the use of blood alcohol concentration in liquor liability cases; the deleterious effects of alcohol and drugs, winning the plaintiff’s liquor liability case and defending the liquor liability case. Is heavily footnoted, and provides much practical information for attorneys working in the liquor liability area. An appendix provides samples of: a motion for an order to preserve evidence and sample order; a form provided to alcohol servers explaining procedures they should take to avoid violating dram shop laws; a dram shop notice affidavit; deposition questions for breathalyzer operator; a record of refusal to serve; an identification register for carding patrons; a police incident report.

9. Legal Treatises

There is little in the way of treatises that treat alcohol law as a whole, in large part because this subject does not fit consistently within one particular area of law, and is not of major theoretical interest to attorneys or legal academics. What treatises exist are generally those that were published before and shortly after repeal, when this issue was of serious interest to more than practitioners or members of the liquor industry.

10. Legal Directories

Wasserman, Steven et al. eds. Law and Legal Information Directory: A Guide To More Than 32,000 National And International Organizations, Bar Associations, Bar Examination And Admission To Legal Practice Requirements, The Federal Court System, Highest State Courts, Federal Regulatory Agencies, Law Schools, Continuing Legal Education, Paralegal Education, Scholarships And Grants, Awards And Prizes 7th ed. (Gale, Detroit; 1993) 2 vol.

The scope of this directory, as defined in the introduction, is to describe organizations, services, programs and other sources of information about the legal field. . .” Thus it is very broad: much broader than most traditional academic legal research resources. There are some useful entries pertaining to alcohol law, specifically dram shop law; however in general this guide is less useful than the state guides covered below. It is mentioned here, however, because it provides information that, although not specific to research in alcohol law, may be useful nevertheless. For example, it has a section on resources for checking the status of bills of various states. The directory is indexed to names and key words, and includes an appendix of publishers of legal books and media resources. Most entries contain phone numbers and addresses to contact the organizations directly.

State Reference Publications: A Bibliographic Guide to State Blue Books, Legislative Manuals and Other General Reference Sources 1993 - 1994.
Hellebust, Lynn, ed. Government Research Service, Topeka, KS, 1993.

This guide provides access to various state reference publications, such as blue books, legislative manuals, and handbooks (Blue books are general reference publications covering information about all three branches of government, along with historical and other information by the state, that are traditionally published by the state governments).

Other useful references included are directories and biographical profiles of state and local government officials and employees, statistical abstracts, and privately published books on the government and politics of the individual state, including their legislature and local governments. The guide is organized alphabetically by state, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico are covered. It also has an appendix with entries General State Government Reference Books, Directories (to state and local government officials, lobbyists and regional offices and courts, etc. in all states) and periodicals concerned with state and local government issues in all the states. Given the state and local nature of alcohol law, this guide should prove to be an invaluable aid in finding out who to contact in each state to gain more information on alcohol law in that state.

Book of the States (Council of State Governments, Chicago, 1935–)

Published biennially, these volumes containing a wealth of information about the structure, functions and practices of the various governmental units in each state. It deals with all three branches of government and their intergovernmental relations, and with major areas of public service performed by them. For purposes of alcohol research, they provide a specific section on taxation, with tables, that contains useful information on alcohol taxes. While the table are not exhaustive, the information contained has proven reliable.

11. Statistical Resources

Table of Contents

Scope

Organization