Descriptive Word Index

Descriptive Word Index in the One-L Dictionary

A bibliographic tool used for finding cases by subject in a print digest. Digests are the key print source for categorizing cases by subject. In the West digest system, the subjects are referred to as topics and each topic is broken down into sub-topics that are each assigned a “key number”. Once you have a number relevant to your work, you could look up the topic and key number in a digest to find all of the cases that the publisher’s editors believe are on point. You may know a relevant topic and key number from the headnote of a relevant case. Otherwise, the best way to identify the topic and key number for your research is to use the Descriptive Word Index for the digest, which is located in several volumes either at the end or the beginning of the digest. A Descriptive Word Index is organized like any other index _ you would search under general terms that describe your research problem. This should lead you to an appropriate topic and key number.

Note: This Descriptive Word Index definition in the One-L Dictionary for new law students is from Harvard Law School (HLS).

See also

An alphabetical list of topics with references to the place these topics… (Read more)