Secondary Sources

Legal Research

Fall 2011

Graham Bateman

Types of Secondary Sources

Dictionaries Legal Encyclopedias American Law Reports (ALR) Restatements Law Review Articles Books

Types of Legal Encyclopedias

General – includes state and federal laws American Jurisprudence (Am Jur) (W & L) Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) (Westlaw)

State-specific (not a true encyclopedia) Louisiana Civil Law Treatise

Topic-specific Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice

Browse/Search Table of Contents or full-text

Look at nearby sections to see if any are of interest and look for definition or purpose sections

Switch back to TOC view.

Title of article

Search full text – or by citation or by TOC

Return to TOC

Louisiana Civil Law Treatise - Louisiana focused

Similar to a legal encyclopedia Sets contain– Civil Procedure, Property, Torts,

Business Law, Trusts, Successions, Criminal Law, Evidence, Family Law, Workers Compensation, Business and Family Law

Print finding aids Indexes – in each set and combined index Combined table of cases

Available on Westlaw (LACIVL) Each set individually or in a combined database

Civil Law Treatise

Civil Law Treatise Index

Treatise Index Terms

Civil Law Treatise

ALR

Hybrid of reporter and journal – contains full text of “lead case” and an article

In-depth description of a narrow area of law Contains a Table of Cases and Statutes

arranged by state Available on Westlaw TIP: In print, always use the multi-volume

index rather than the 1 volume Quick Index as it references more articles

Updating Article

In print – use pocket parts but also look for newer articles on same subject that may supersede your article

On Westlaw Updated automatically by adding new cases Original date of article does not reflect how

current the information is

New case citations added on frequent basis.

1. Note date of original publication of annotation text.

2. General TOC

Outline of article

Cum. Supp. Immediately follows main annotation.

Books

Thorough treatment of a single topic Different types of legal books:

Nutshells Written with little legalese and no footnotes

Hornbooks More indepth discussion with footnotes

Treatises More scholarly, thorough treatment of issue Heavily footnoted

Some books available electronically but many others are only available in print

How to Find Books in our Library

Use LSU Law Library Catalog If you know the author’s name, use Author If you know the title, use Title TIP: If you only have a topic, use Keyword,

NOT Subject Keyword searches the subject headings plus the

Title and the Notes fields If find a relevant book, look at the subject

headings and click relevant subject to find more books with the same subject heading

Having Trouble Finding Books in our Library? Broaden your search

Use more general search terms (ex: use “real estate” rather than “easement”)

Search World Cat from Law Library screen to see what other libraries have Then visit local libraries or use inter-library loan

Search for electronic books Library’s website Internet (excerpts or FT) Lexis and Westlaw – have some practitioner titles that

we don’t have in the library

Access books via “Area of Law”, by jurisdiction, or “Secondary Legal”

Restatements

Summarizes a common law area; sorts out the differences in the cases across the country

Published by American Law Institute (ALI) Members are nominated and voted in

Written by expert(s) in the field and discussed by all members of ALI

Structure of Restatements

Each section has: Rule of law Comments and illustrations (discuss how to

apply the rule) Reporter’s notes (provides background and

history) Summaries of cases which have applied rule

in appendix volumes Reminder: Always read rule before looking at

case summaries

Ease of Use

Can be confusing to determine what is in effect Tentative drafts, new series Case summaries are in different volumes that

cover a span of years Pocket part updates

TIP: Lexis and Westlaw are easier to use, with links to various parts and b/c case summaries are all gathered together

This is the actual rule

All the case summaries are together. In print, they are in different volumes.

See case citations or read the rule with associated comments

Read Reporters Notes

Click on next to page through case citations.

Can also see rule.

Law Review Articles

In-depth, thorough analysis of narrow legal issue Description, analysis, explanation, and

suggestion of alternative approach to law Typically authored by professors; also

attorneys and judges Contain citations to primary materials and

other secondary sources

Finding Articles – Indexes

Print Index to Legal Periodicals & Books (ILP) Current Law Index (CLI)

Electronic Legal Trac

Search Tips: Use Advanced Search Option and unclick default Full-Text search option

Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

Finding Articles with Citation

Do a Title search in Law Library Catalog Search the Journal title, not the article title Still receiving it in print? Hein Online – click on hyperlink and use

citation search option in upper right hand corner of screen

Lexis Get a document

Westlaw Find

Note latest volume on Hein Online is v.42.

Look up specific article by citation.

Finding Articles – Full Text

Lexis Westlaw Hein Online Other electronic FT journals (over 8000!!)

Academic OneFile ProQuest

Coverage Reminder!!

Pay attention to the dates of coverage of the various indexes and full-text databases Lexis and Westlaw

Coverage varies; earliest is 1980 Hein Online

Begins with volume 1 for most journals ILP and CLI

Begins in 1980 and 1981 respectively Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective

Coverage 1918-1981

Hein Online

PDF images of articles Starts with volume 1 for most journals but

does not have current volume Can access via Library Catalog or library

Databases page Printing TIP: use PDF option, not HPrint

You can look at article in PDF and decide which pages to print

Search TIP: Search engine is not very good; easier to do citation source

Important Reminders

Always read the primary materials referred to in the secondary sources!! Author may have mis-stated the law or law

may have changed Do not solely rely on the primary authorities

identified in the secondary sources Research primary materials independently as

well Update the statutes and cases mentioned

(Shepards and Keycite)