The theory behind CiteFinder is that the best way to find cases or statutes relevant to a given research issue is by examining the common relationships between and among various citations within the same line of authority. Next, CiteFinder performs an analysis of the full record of citations to develop a ranked list of authorities, with the most statistically relevant citations displayed at the top of the list. You can use case citations, statutory citations, or a combination. CiteFinder requires at least two input citations and can process up to five at one time. Seminal decisions tend to be older cases from higher courts, and are many times those upon which the case will primarily rely.
Seminal decisions are, almost by definition, the authorities most often cited by other cases.
Therefore, in terms of results, you cast a wider research net when you use a seminal case as one of your input citations. Yet, because newer cases typically cite to other seminal authorities, newer authorities can also be effective inputs, and using at least one more recent input citation can improve the quality of the CiteFinder results. CiteFinder is most effective when using a combination of newer and older authorities as your input citations. Thus, a combination of old and new is often the most effective strategy when determining CiteFinder input citations. Shepardizing to Find Input Cases Another effective method for finding additional input citations is to Shepardize the case or statute you have already found.