Sources Of Legal Research

Question 1

What is the difference between primary and secondary sources?

Answer 1

Primary sources state the actual law.

Secondary sources are someone’s explanation of the law.

Primary sources must be reviewed first.

Question 2

What are primary sources?

Answer 2

Cover the legislation made by Parliament and decided cases.

Legislation can be divided into primary and secondary (delegated) legislation.

Acts of Parliament is as example (Wills Act 1837)

Secondary legislation include Statutory Instruments (SIs) and are used to add detail to primary legislation.

Important to ensure legislation is up to date. Legislation can be amended, revised or repealed.

Case law and practice directions are also a primary source.

Cases can be used to find out how the courts have treated a particular piece of legislation and to help predict the likely outcome of a particular issue for the client.

Practice Directions are a form of guidance produced by the judiciary on issues coming before the courts on a particular topic or piece of legislation.

Question 3

What are secondary sources?

Answer 3

Commentary on the law written by legal authors, academics, judges and others with expertise in a particular area of law.

Secondary sources must not be quoted in advice - a researcher must quote a primary source of law.

They provide interpretation or explanation so are useful to find out what the law is and what primary sources will need to be consulted.

Question 4

What are hard copy resources?

Answer 4

Advantages
- some people find them easier to read
- can be used when the internet is not working
- easier to read the surrounding paragraphs when reading an entry

Disadvantages
- can become out of date
- updating them is too onerous
- can be expensive
- consume a lot of space

Examples
- case reports (e.g All England Law Report) - primary source
- encyclopaedias (e.g Halsbury’s Laws of England) - secondary source
- practitioner’s texts - (e.g. The Family Court Practice) secondary source and provide expert guidance on procedural issues or specialist coverage
- journals and articles (e.g CILEX journal or PLC)
- textbooks - not usually used in legal research as go out of date quickly
- legal dictionaries - good starting point

Question 5

What are electronic resources examples?

Answer 5

1. Subscription resources - give access to primary and secondary legislation, case law, practise notes (e.g Lexis Library)
2. Government websites - useful for looking at development of policy and legislation.
3. Www.bailii.org - free website provides access to statutes and statutory instruments
4. Search engines - important to be careful as engines can be mix of reliable and non-reliable and can spend along time going through results.
5. Wikipedia - best avoided as a research source

Question 6

How do hard copy and electronic resources compare?

Answer 6

Hard copy resources
1. Generally accurate as published by reputable authors
2. Cover a wide range of materials
3. Some sources have an excellent system for updating sources - but this is an additional step
4. Do not depend on technology

Electronic resources
1. Can have questions about accuracy and currency
2. Not all legal sources available on internet
3. Information on some sites need to be checked carefully
4. Suffer from technical glitches, slow connection speeds and can crash.