NCJ Number
80932
Date Published
1981
Length
652 pages
Annotation
This volume has been designed primarily as a basic text for students who are learning to do legal research. It is intended to enable law students, lawyers, and others to locate and use the legal resources for research.
Abstract
Although emphasis is placed on legal research in the United States, chapters are provided on international law, English legal research, and Canadian law. The distinction between primary sources of law, which include constitutions, statutes, and court decisions, and secondary sources of law, consisting of other law books, are explained. Preliminary procedures in legal research, including the determination and integration of facts and the determination of the legal issues, are outlined. The method of publishing and of locating decisions of Federal and State courts is detailed. The nature and use of digests are outlined, and specific digests are described. Annotated law reports, Federal legislation, Federal legislative histories, State and municipal legislation, and Federal, State, and foreign constitutions are explained. The purposes of court rules and the publications containing court rules are presented. Sources of administrative law such as Federal administrative regulations and decisions are discussed. Looseleaf services, Shepard's Citations, legal encyclopedias, and legal periodicals are described. Treatises, restatements, model codes, and uniform laws are other secondary sources covered. Other research aids such as opinions of attorneys general, law dictionaries, and form books are outlined. The use of computers and microtext in legal research and techniques for use in Federal tax research are also discussed. A general summary of research procedure explains how to identify the legally significant facts, frame the legal issues to be researched, identify the relevant sources of law, research the issues presented, and communicate the solution of the problem. Suggested lists of sources for constitutional law problems, and administrative law problems are listed. Extensive sample pages and sections from primary and secondary sources are included throughout the text. A glossary of terms used in legal research, an index, and appendixes presenting a table of legal abbreviations, a list of 18 states' published guides to legal research, and publications for use in legal research in territories of the United States are provided. The pamphlet, 'Supplement and Assignments,' prepared to accompany this text, is intended for student use.