Legal MethodFinding information for the Land

Law Coursework Research Exercise

Sarah Crofts,

Law & Criminology Librarian

January 2015

By the end of this session you will be able to:

Select appropriate databases for Land Law,

Formulate a search for cases and journal articles for a specific topic,

Attempt the Lexis Certification and/or Westlaw Training Tutorial,

Access the library subject guides for remote login guides.

New features: LibrarySearch and Subject Guides

Subject Guides: Law

Access from:

the Portal or

Direct link: http://libguides.gre.ac.uk/law

Training tab for links to certification pages for:

Lexis

Westlaw

JustCite

Resources tab for guides to access to e-resources from off-campus and from laptops

LIBRARY SEARCH & EBOOKS

Library Search: Using MyiLibrary ebooks Off Campus If you are off campus or using your own laptop

you need to authenticate yourself in order to open ebooks in MyiLibrary.

From the A-Z list of e-resources in the portal, select EBSCOhost Research Databases,

Keep the window open in your web browser and go back to the A-Z list of e-resources to select MyiLibrary,

This will enable MyiLibrary to pick up your authenticated status.

LibrarySearch home page

LibrarySearch Advanced Search

Contains

Is (exact)

Starts with

eBooks

Dawsonera and MyiLibrary both include a small number of recent Land Law eBooks, e.g.

Megarry and Wade, The law of real property

Thompson, Modern land law, 5th ed.

Find these using the ebook platforms or LibrarySearch

LibrarySearch

LibrarySearch does NOT give access to:

Cases and legislation

Articles in legal journals on Lexis and Westlaw (but it may take you to the journal, but not the article)

Datasets, e.g. Company accounts, Macroeconomic data, Marketing data

DATABASES

E-Library: Library Databases

Access – See the Subject Guide links

Resources tab for guides to access to e-resources from off-campus and from laptops

Access from:

the Portal or

Direct link: http://libguides.gre.ac.uk/law

JUSTCITE

JustCite Searches

Cases:

Tulk v Moxhay (1848) 2 Ph 774

Thamesmead Town v Allotey [1998] 3 EGLR 97

Statutes (add s. number for specific section)

Law of Property Act 1925 s. 78

LEXIS LIBRARY

Lexis: Quick Find

Find a legal term: Positive covenant

Find a source: New Law Journal

Lexis: General

Covenants relating to land

Lexis: Cases (Add topics)

Select: Real

Property Law -

Covenants

Lexis: Cases Search terms

Lexis: Journals

Lexis Commentary: including Halsbury’s Laws of England

Select: Commentary, Halsbury’s

Laws of England

Halsbury’s Laws of England

www.lexisnexis.co.uk/HalsburysLaw/halsburys_laws_about.html

This is our print copy

(4th ed.). It is not

updated so use the

online version on Lexis

in preference (5th ed.)

Searching in Lexis: Choose key terms

These could be a phrase such as:

“express grant”

“recreational right”,

“prescriptive right”,

“right(s) annexed to land”

“restrictive covenant”

“exclusive possession” Lexis always searches words as a phrase, unless you instruct

otherwise and will return results with words in that order.

Or individual words, such as “prescription” “licence”

Searching in Lexis: Using Connectors

Connectors:

AND to find both terms anywhere in the document, e.g. “restrictive AND covenant”,

OR to find either of two terms, e.g. “land ORproperty”

Proximity connectors:

w/s to find both terms within the same sentence, e.g. “Registered W/S land”

w/p to find both terms within the same paragraph, e.g. “Registered W/P land”

WESTLAW

Westlaw

Westlaw: Insight

Westlaw Insight article

Westlaw Cases search

Westlaw Cases: Advanced Search

Westlaw: Journals

Westlaw Search tips:

Case search enter the names of the parties without the “v”,

e.g. Tulk Moxhay

To search for words as a phrase in Westlaw, you need “quote marks”

E.g. “Family home”, “positive covenants”

Alternative endings – use !,

e.g. Covenant!

Too many results?

Try narrowing your search down or “Search Within”.

Westlaw: Refining your search

Connectors (as for Lexis):

AND to find both terms anywhere in the document,

e.g. “Service charges” AND covenants

OR to find either of two terms,

e.g. bankruptcy OR insolvency

Proximity connectors (different from Lexis): /s to find both terms within the same sentence, e.g.

“Service charges” /s covenants

/p to find both terms within the same paragraph

“Services charges” /p covenants

Westlaw: Books

Lexis or Westlaw Certificates

In case the certificates from Lexis or Westlaw do not arrive in time, please do a screen shot of the screen confirming that you have been successful and include this at the END of your research assignment.

A useful tool in Microsoft is the Snipping Tool which you can find in the Start Menu.

New! Cite them right

Online version of the book available in the library.

Help with referencing – includes OSCOLA.

Will be on A-Z list soon, until then, access on campus from this link:

http://www.citethemrightonline.com/

Thank you

Law and Criminology/Criminal Justice Senior Academic Services Librarian: Sarah Crofts

Law Subject Guide: http://libguides.gre.ac.uk/law

Email: cs02@gre.ac.uk, x9078

Information & Library Service Blog: http://uoglibrary.blogspot.com

Twitter for latest news: http://twitter.com/UoGlibraries

This room opens into a silent study area. Please leave quietly.

The closest lift and stairs are to your left as you leave.

Thank you.