Reply #77: You are right. Headnotes are not law. [View All]

[Manifestor_of_Light]

Headnotes are short statements of the principles of the case, used for indexing. I remember looking up cases and Shepardizing and the Decennial Digests, back in my law school days before computers.

I know that meaning of "reporter". Growing up I used to read the Southwestern Reporter, because my dad practiced law in Texas. I was so bored I read the murder cases.

There are Federal Reporters, Tax Reporters, Appellate Reporters, yada yada.

The court reporter, or stenographer, sits in a TRIAL court and takes down the testimony in shorthand. They bang on a Stenograph machine. Then they type it up. Then the lawyers call them up and yell at them for charging too much. I know this because I was a court reporter for about twenty years and it drove me insane.

The appellate opinions of the courts are written out by the justices with input from the law clerks, who do research on precedents.

A trial transcript and an appellate record (briefs) are completely different animals.

The appellate courts and the trial courts are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

I assume that the appellate arguments in the supreme court are recorded on audio but I don't know if they have an actual stenographer to make sure that nobody mumbles, and makes sure that it is a usable record (tape recorders DO NOT replace stenographers).



I also have a law degree I earned at night while working at the courthouse full time and typing transcripts. Why? I was nuts.



I am a lawyer, but I do not play one on TV, and I don't practice law either, so you are safe. I can't sue you myself. :D