8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 1/7

LIBRARY

U.K. aw

A guide to finding informationLegal information is structured into primary sources and secondary sources.

Primary SourcesPrimary sources are authoritative statements of law made by the law-making bodies, Parliament and theCourts.

1. Parliament - produces two types of primary sources:a. Primary Legislation, otherwise known as cts of Parliament or !tatutesb. !econdary "delegated or subordinate# Legislation. $hese include !tatutory %nstruments "!%s#,

bylaws "local laws created by organi&ations etc. controlled by central government#, and codesof practice "rules by which people are re'uired to follow to establish good practice#.

(. Courts - primary sources come in the form of case law.

Finding Legislation!tatutes are available in both print and electronic formats.

WWW.BROOKES.AC.UK/LIBRARY

8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 2/7

*A consolidated statute incorporates all the amendments to the statute since its lastrevision.

Case Law)etailed accounts of important cases are found in the Law *eports, which are accessible in print andelectronic format. +nly the most current 1 years of Law *eports are kept in the Library older Law *eportsare in storage and must be re'uested from the Librarys /elp 0one.

8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 3/7

+nline databases are a key resource for case law. LexisLibrary   includes the  All England Law Reportsand Westlaw  provides the Weekly Law Reports. !tudents have access to full tet cases.

Finding Secondary Sources!econdary sources are materials that help eplain, analyse or refer you to relevant law. !econdary legalresources include tetbooks, legal 2ournals, official publications such as Command Papers, legalencyclopaedias, and case law digests3summaries.

Digests• Current Law series

• Current Law monthly digest  "L* 456 C# is a monthly publication detailing the latest developments in

7.8. case law and legislation. %t is arranged by sub2ect and includes a selection of legal articles.

• Current Law Yearbook  "L* 456 C# consolidates the information in the monthly digests into annual

volumes.

• Current Law Case Citator  "L* 456 C# refers to all reported sources of a case and traces the 2udicial

consideration of a case. %t enables the user to locate abstracts of cases in the 9earbook.

Books$he Library Catalogue provides details of all the material held in the Library, including their location on theshelves "shelfmark). 9ou may find the following shelfmarks useful:

45. 5( ;nglish law45.1 Philosophy of law, !ociology of law, <urisprudence45.=> ;'uity451 %nternational law451.(5( ;uropean law

8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 4/7

45( Constitutional law45(.? dministrative law

454 Public law454.> Consumer law454.>6 Construction law, /otel and Catering law455 !ocial law455.1( ;mployment law455.51 @edical law455.4(> Child law45= Criminal law45?.1= Aamily law45?.( Contract law45?.4 $ort45?.5 Property law

45?.5= Planning law45?.= $rusts45?.?? Company law45?.>> Commercial law45> Civil procedure, 2udicial system456 !tatutes

Journals$he Library subscribes to a wide range of 2ournals in print and electronic format. !earch the LibraryCatalogue to find out which 2ournal titles the Library holds and whether in print and3or electronic format.

NB $he Catalogue does not provide details of articles from 2ournals - see ;lectronic )atabases section for tracing information from 2ournals.

Aor e-2ournals, you can also look at the -0 list " www.brookes.ac.uk3library3e2nls.html # which provides a listof our full tet electronic 2ournals with access details.

Dictionaries! encyclo"aedias and guides

Dictionaries$he Library holds a number of law dictionaries, including Osborn's concise law dictionary  "45.4 +!B# andLongman dictionary of law  "45.4 C7* and available as an e-book#.

#ncyclo"aedias• Halsbury's Laws of England  "45 /# is a very useful encyclopaedia covering the whole field of ;nglish

law. %t is arranged by sub2ect and outlines the law of a particular sub2ect field, providing references torelevant cases and statutes. Check the booklets for updates on recent developments.

• $he Library has some loose-leaf encyclopaedic works "shelved with the law books#. $hey each cover a

specific field in Law, and are regularly updated. $hey are listed on the Library Catalogue.

$uides to using a Law Li%rary$hese guides provide detailed information about finding and using legal resources:

• Using a law library a student's guide to legal research skills by Clinch 45.1? CL%

• Legal skills by Ainch and Aafinski 45.> A%

• Learning legal rules by /olland and Debb 45.(4 /+L

8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 5/7

Aurther information about online encyclopaedias, dictionaries and study skills can be found on the

!ub2ect help pages for Law via +ford Brookes Library web page.

A%%re&iations9ou will constantly encounter abbreviations and acronyms while studying law. 7se the following resourcesto decipher them:

• $he LibraryEs own guide: Legal abbre!iations for law reports and "ournals held at O#ford $rookes

Uni!ersity Library .

• %nde# to legal citations and abbre!iations 45.156 *%

• Current Law Year book  L* 456 C

• $here is a useful online guide, the Cardiff %nde# to Legal &bbre!iations which covers a large range of 

abbreviations. $he guide is available at: www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk3

$o&ernment Pu%lications• $he Library holds a range of government publications in print. !earch the Library Catalogue to find

details of our holdings.

• $he Library subscribes to the 'ouse of Commons Parliamentary Pa"ers database, which provides

access to /ouse of Commons sessional papers from 1>1= to present, with some additional materialdating back to 1?66.

• Debsites which provide government publications can be found on the !ub2ect help pages for Law via

the Library web page. ;amples include:

o $he 7.8. Parliament website "www.parliament.uk# provides access to a range of official

publications including bills and committee papers. Parliamentary debates - verbatim accounts of what is said in Parliament - are published in the Hansard House of Commons (arliamentary )ebates and Hansard House of Lords (arliamentary )ebates and are also available through thissite.

o $he Fovernment web site "www.gov.uk# provides access to information on and documents from

government departments, the Law Commission and other agencies.

#lectronic data%ases ll of the following databases are available to +ford Brookes staff and students from on and off campus.

Legal Data%asesLegal databases provide access to case law and legislation, most of which is full tet. !ome legaldatabases provide access to abstracts "summaries# of 2ournal articles, and in some cases the full tet. ccess and password details for these databases: www.brookes.ac.uk3library3eleclib.html

• Case *rack  G full-tet 2udgements from a range of Courts. 7pdated daily.

• HeinOnline G full-tet database, including the Law <ournal Library, Legal Classics, the $reaties and

 greements Library and Dorld Constitutions %llustrated.

8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 6/7

• Lawtel   G updated every (5 hours and provides digests of 7.8. cases, statute law, 2ournal articles,

government papers, etc. %ncludes a human rights section with full-tet case law from the ;uropean

Court of /uman *ights, summaries of 2ournal articles and legislation.

• Le#isLibrary  G full-tet database of ;nglish cases, legislation and some 2ournal articles. lso includes

;uropean and %nternational Law material. %ncludes full-tet 7.8. newspaper articles and /alsburysLaws.

• +estlaw  G full-tet database of case law "reports from 1((#, legislation, and the Legal <ournals

%nde, which includes some full-tet articles. %t also covers ;.7. cases and legislation as well assome 7.!. and %nternational Law material. !ome e-books are available "e.g. Doodfall: Landlord and$enant#.

(ther useful Data%ases for law material$he following are multi-disciplinary databases which include some legal topics.

•  &cademic ,earch Complete - multi-disciplinary database, which includes law.

•  &,,%& - &pplied ,ocial ,ciences %nde# and &bstracts -  includes social and family law.

• acti!a G provides full-tet access to a range of 7.8. and international newspapers.

• ,ociological &bstracts G broad-based !ociology database, which includes various aspects of Law.

• +eb of ,cience G includes the !ocial !cience Citation %nde, which provides 2ournal abstracts from all

aspects of the !ocial !ciences including Law.

seful *e% sites$here is a vast amount of information available on the %nternet. !ome selected sites are listed below:

• .enables "www.venables.co.uk# is a good site for a range of law material.

• %nfolaw  "www.infolaw.co.uk# provides access to a wide range of legal resources.

•  &ccess*oLaw "www.accesstolaw.com# provides annotated links to selected 7.8., Commonwealth and

worldwide legal web sites.

+ore information@ore online information can be found at the Law !ub2ect /elp pages, atwww.brookes.ac.uk3library3law.html. %f you need any help or further information please contact your !ub2ectLibrarian, Laura Pilsel, at /eadington Library/

Aull contact details are:

 

Laura Pilsel,!ub2ect Librarian "Law and Psychology#,+ford Brookes 7niversity,Fipsy Lane, /eadington,+ford, +H4 +BP.$el: 16?= 564>>;mail: l.pilselIbrookes.ac.uk 

8/11/2019 Law Guid

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/law-guid 7/7

LP 4315