Legal Research for Academic Librarians: Connecting Collections

Eloise Bellard

May 2nd, 2007

ACRL/NY Long Island Section

Secondary Sources

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

Secondary Sources

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.

Legal Encyclopedias

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.

Legal Encyclopedias for Non-Lawyers 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/

Other Reference Sources 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

Other Reference Sources, continued… 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.

Legal Periodicals

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 athttp://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/index.jsp, Supreme Court Review athttp://www.jstor.org/journals/00819557.html and ABA Preview athttp://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/preview07_04.pdf

Legal periodicals

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.

Texts and Treatises, Hornbooks, and Nutshells 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.

Hornbooks

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.

Hornbooks continued…

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/

Texts and Treatises, Hornbooks andnutshells continued… 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

Looseleafs: 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.

Looseleafs continued…

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/

Useful Websites Subject Guides and Bibliographies 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/

Other Sites with Resources useful for research 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