Is Link Rot Destroying Stare Decisis as We Know It? The Internet-Citation Practice of the Texas Appellate Courts by Arturo Torres (Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, Vol 13, No. 2, Fall 2012 )
Abstract:
In 1995 the first Internet-based citation was used in a federal court opinion. In 1996, a state appellate court followed suit; one month later, a member of the United States Supreme Court cited to the Internet; finally, in 1998 a Texas appellate court cited to the Internet in one of its opinions. In less than twenty years, it has become common to find appellate courts citing to Internet-based resources in opinions. Because of the current extent of Internet-citation practice varies by courts across jurisdictions, this paper will examine the Internet-citation practice of the Texas Appellate courts since 1998. Specifically, this study surveys the 1998 to 2011 published opinions of the Texas appellate courts and describes their Internet-citation practice.
A study that confirms what was found in …Link and Reference Rot in Legal Citations for the Harvard Law Review and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Curious that a West Key Numbers remain viable after more than a century of use (manual or electronic resolution) whereas Internet citations expire over the course of a few years.
What do you think is the difference in those citations, West Key Numbers versus URLs, that accounts for one being viable and the other only ephemerally so?