The Alabama Reporter is now in CD-ROM format. The Reporters are not arranged by subject, nor are the sets indexed. Often a reference may be found from text or footnotes of texts, encyclopedias, or other cases. Annotated codes will list cases, which have cited a statute following the text of the statute. Digests must be used for subject access to the reporters.
Digests are the traditional means of finding cases.
They are published for most states and several of the regions. There is also a federal digest. The most commonly used digest system divides the law into about 400 topics. Pigeonholed under each key number are brief paragraphs abstracted from cases, which summarize what each case says about that point, and citations to where each case can be found. This index uses common words to lead to the right topic and key number.