rules that govern an activity and finding materials that explain or analyze those rules Determining what law applies to a particular situation is a skill requiring expertise in legal analysis Involves the use of a variety of resources Expertises in legal research Must be able to analyze factual situations Determine the relevant fields of legal doctrine Apply rules developed by courts Effective use of the librarys extensive array of online and printed sources Knowing which sources are authorative or useful for what The sources of law
The law consist of those recorded
rules that society will enforce and the procedures by which they are implemented For continental legal system, those recorded rules are statutes For common law legal system, those rules areshaped over the course of many years in court decisions The sources of law
Law studets must learn how legal issues fit
into dichotomies in legal field not to solve the problems but to know where to look for answer It is necessary to learn how to classify a questionwithout pigeonholing the situation to narrowly Analysis within a particular doctrinal are can clarify a specific issue, but most situation contain isues from a number of areas The form of legal information Effective legal researc requires knwoledge of the nature of the legal system and understanding of the ways in which legal information is dissemnited The form of legal information Current and historical information Primary and secondary sources Primary sources are the official pronouncements of the governmental lawmakers Works which are not themselves the law, but which discuss or analyze the legal doctrine are considered secondary sources Print and electronic resources Legal language
agood law dictionary is neede to
understand the language of the law The leadng work is Blacks Law Dictionar Beginning a research project The hardest part is finding the firs piece of relevant information Step back andstudy the problem carefuly Determine whether the jurisdictional focus in federal or state Be sure to understand the terms in which the problem stated Formulate tentaive issues Beginning a research project Going to a trustworthy secondary source Free internet sites are not comprehensive, but they can provide places to start if more thorough resources are not readily available Completing a research project The limits to research are set by the nature of the project If theres no limits, you must do enough research to be confident that the research is based on information that is complete and accurate Completing a research project The surrest way to achieve this confidence is to try several different approaches to the research problem Verify that sources to be relied upon are still in force and a good law No research is complete unless the lattest supplements have been checked, surrent awarness sources have been searched, and the status of cases to be relied upon has been determined