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- Eloise Bellard
- May 2nd, 2007
- ACRL/NY Long Island Section
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- Secondary sources can be used to help locate and explain primary sources
of the law. They offer analysis
and commentary written by legal scholars or staff of legal
publishers. They may influence a
legal decision but do not have the controlling authority that
constitutes the law itself
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- There are a variety of secondary sources used for legal research below
are a few of the resources useful for interdisciplinary research:
- Legal encyclopedias and other reference sources
- Legal periodicals
- Treatises, hornbooks, and nutshells
- Loose leaf services
- Websites for subject guides, bibliographies and topical resources.
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- There are two American legal encyclopedias. Both of these general
encyclopedias are published by West and are arranged topically
- American Jurisprudence
(Am. Jur.)
- Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.
S.)
- There are also state specific legal encyclopedias such as New York
Jurisprudence 2nd.
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- West’s The Guide to American Law:
Everyone's Legal Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
- LII: The Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School. http://www.law.cornell.edu/
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- Tools for locating case law:
- Schultz, David. The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court. 2005. Facts on File. New York.
- Savage, David G. Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court. CQ Press 2004. Washington D.C.
- The Supreme Court Yearbook. 1991- .
CQ Press. Washington D.C.
`
- The Oxford companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. 2005.Editor
in chief, Kermit L. Hall ; editors, James W. Ely, Jr., Joel B. Grossman.
New York. Oxford University
Press, c2005
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- Tools for locating federal legislation:
- Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Edited by Brian K Landesberg. Macmillan Reference USA. New York.
- U.S. Laws, Acts and Treaties. 2002. Edited by Timothy L. Hall. Salem Press. Hackensack, New Jersey.
- CQ Almanac-Plus. 1945- .Washington D.C:
CQ Press.
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- There are numerous legal periodicals available, including law school journals
and/ or bar reviews, bar association periodicals, legal newspapers, or newsletters. Law review
articles discuss legal issues, analyze the law along with litigation
trends and cite to relevant statutes and cases on the topic.
- The New York Law Journal at
- http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/index.jsp,
- Supreme Court Review at
- http://www.jstor.org/journals/00819557.html
- and ABA Preview at
- http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/preview07_04.pdf
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- Many are available fulltext in Academic Search Premier legal research
database and adequate for most academic assignments.
- Links to electronic versions of some law reviews can also be found on Findlaw
at http://stu.findlaw.com/journals/index.html
- Wilson’s Legal Periodical Index available through OCLC.
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- Texts and treatises are written by legal scholars and provide in depth
exhaustive analysis and commentary of the law on a single subject. Treatises are generally more than one
volume.
- Provide extensive references to related sources in foonotes and
appendices.
- Leading publishers: West, and now Lexis which has taken over Lawyers
Cooperative and Matthew Bender, etc.
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- Hornbooks cover specific areas of the law in narrative form.
- Usually one volume texts because they offer a condensed version of the
law
- Provides explanations and overview of the laws evolution, a discussion
of the court’s interpretation and an application of the law today
- Hornbooks contain an index, Table of Cases, and sometimes a table of
Statutes.
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- Thomson-West ‘Hornbook series’ at http://west.thomson.com/store/SearchResults.aspx?limitpublications=59&type=ADVANCED-SEARCH
- Aspen Publishers ‘Examples and Explanations Series’ at
- http://www.aspenpublishers.com/search.asp?Mode=SEARCH&keyword=examples%20and%20explanations&ISBN=&Author=&Sort=DEFAULT&SearchOption=Title
- Lexis series ‘Understanding the Law’ at
- http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/study/understanding/
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- Nutshells are paperback volumes that are no frills overviews simpler to
understand than hornbooks, highlighting key cases and statues on a topic
of law.
- The guides are written by recognized experts who present the essential
rules of law in a uniquely condensed format. This timesaving reference
guide supplies a quick, simplified and thorough summation of the
essential issues on a broad range of topical areas. There is indexing as well as a Table
of Cases list.
- http://west.thomson.com/store/SearchResults.aspx?limitpublications=69&type=ADVANCED-SEARCH&pagesize=20
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- Looseleaf services in print or online are especially useful for their
‘current news’ and not for historical background. They are useful
hybrids that pull together text, statutes, regulations, and opinions of
courts and administrative agencies on specific important topics that
need constant updating.
- They were originally designed to allow for rapid update before the
digital age. Looseleafs consist of special binders which allow for
the quick insertion, removal, and
substitution of individual pages.
- Generally published on regulation intensive subjects such as banking,
tax, securities or other topics like family Law, criminal law and many others.
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- Typically looseleafs offer researchers excellent indexing and
the following:
- 1. Full text of statues or
decisions
- 2. Full text of applicable
regulations
- 3. Citations to cases
- 4. Editorial comment and
analysis
- Many looseleafs available , there are two major publishers BNA at http://www.bna.com/products/ and CCH at http://www.cch.com/Order/
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- Marian Gould Law Library University of Washington Law School ‘Legal
Research Guides’ at http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/guides.html
- Georgetown University Law School at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/research/browse_topics.cfm
- Law Scout at University of Akron School of Law at http://lawscout.uakron.edu/
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- American Bar Association (ABA) at http://www.abanet.org/publiced/
- American Bar Association (ABA) divisions at
- http://www.abanet.org/aztopics.html
- American Bar Association Webstore http://www.abanet.org/abastore/index.cfm
- Lexis bookstore at http://bookstore.lexis.com/bookstore/catalog?action=category&cat_id=T
- New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) at http://www.nysba.org/
- Center for Education and Employment http://www.ceelonline.com/ceel/default.asp
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Notes