Introduction to Legal Research Class 1 Legal Authority: Primary

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Introduction to Legal ResearchClass 1Legal
Authority Primary SecondaryHow to Use
LawCatBiebers, ALWD Bluebook

• Denise Gibson, Assistant Law Librarian for
  Research Services
• Section 3

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Legal Authority

• Primary source (authority) the law itself
• Secondary source (authority) explains and/or
  analyzes primary authority

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Primary Authority U. S. Constitution
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Executive
Judiciary
Legislative
administrative regulations
court opinions (case law)
statutes
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Primary Authority primary authority is the law
itself

• Federal and state constitutions
• Federal and state statutes
• Federal and state cases
• Federal and state regulations

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Examples of resources which contain primary
authority

• Case Reporters, such as Wests South Eastern
  Reporter. Contains the text of court opinions.
• Statutory Codes, such as the Official Code of
  Georgia (OCGA). Contains the text of Georgia
  statutes.

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Secondary authority secondary authorities
summarize, analyze, or comment on the law

• As a researcher, you will use secondary
  authorities in three different ways
• At the beginning of a research project, you might
  wish to use secondary authorities, such as a
  legal encyclopedia, to familiarize yourself with
  an issue and to identify legal terms.
• Find references or footnotes which contain cites
  to primary authority.
• At the end of a project, you may use secondary
  authorities, such as a law review article or
  in-depth treatise, to gain a more sophisticated
  understanding of the issue.

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Resources which are considered secondary authority
Secondary Authority can be found in

• Legal encyclopedias
• American Law Reports (A.L.R.)
• Treatises
• Legal Periodicals - journals law reviews
• Restatements of Law

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• Jurisdiction the power, right, or authority to
  interpret and apply the law. NOTE Jurisdiction
  determines which court system should properly
  adjudicate a case. It might be which state has
  jurisdiction, or it might be a question of
  whether it is a state or federal issue. Whose law
  governs? Also, within a jurisdiction, you must
  also determine the level of court trial court,
  intermediate court, or highest court.
• Primary authority may be mandatory or persuasive
  depending on the circumstances, i.e.,
  jurisdiction and level of court.
• Secondary authority is NEVER mandatory it can
  only be persuasive.

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Primary Authority may either be

• Mandatory
• Decisions of a higher court in the jurisdiction
• Decisions of the Court itself
• Legislative materials for the jurisdiction

• Persuasive
• Decisions of lower courts
• Decisions of courts of other jurisdictions
• Secondary sources
• Legislative materials from other states

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Mandatory or Persuasive Primary Authority?

• A section of a Georgia statute on a Georgia trial
  court?
• A decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court on the
  Georgia Supreme Court?

• A Colorado statute on the Georgia Supreme Court?
• A decision of the Georgia Court of Appeals on the
  Georgia Supreme Court?

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• Secondary Sources

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An example of a secondary source a treatise
Multi-volume scholarly works, e.g. Corbin on
Contracts
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A hornbook, published by West Publishing Company,
is another type of treatise
Single volume hornbooks, e.g., Prosser Keeton
on Torts
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Table of Cases in a hornbook -useful
Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co.
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Hornbook - Table of Cases
Palsgraf discussed on p.284 in chapter on
"Proximate Cause"
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How to find sources in the library which contain
primary and secondary authority? Use our catalog!
LawCat
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Types of searches used most frequently on LawCat

• Keyword
• Title
• Author

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LawCat searching Keyword search Alternate
spellings
Treatise on healthcare Search term healthcare
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LawCat searching
17 results
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LawCat searching
Treatise on healthcare health care spelled as
two words
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764 results catalog entries are arranged
numerically (although none here) and then
alphabetically by title - note that there are
books and microform listed, and even a sound
recording.
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LawCat searching keyword truncation
need treatise on Workers' Compensation Workmens
compensation or workers compensation ?? Which is
it??
Use asterisk to search for different endings of
work Example work compensation
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128 results note that in this result, we can
see that the entries are arranged numerically,
and then alphabetically by title
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LawCat searching
can narrow search by entering a jurisdiction
work compensation Georgia
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LawCat searching - narrow to a jurisdiction - 45
results out of the prior 128 results
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Now we are searching for a treaties on real
property.
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237 results
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Limiting option
Since we received a large number of entries, you
can limit the number of entries by choosing
limit this search button.
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We wish to find only those materials dealing with
real property that are in the reserve collection
behind the circulation desk.
Choose WHERE Item is located, and then select
Reserve from drop down box
Click limit/sort button
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9 items dealing with real property in the reserve
collection
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Remember the 764 results we received from typing
health care as two words? Included in the results
were microform and books if you wish to find
only books and not microform, then use the limit
this search option on the results screen and
then.
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Choose material type and select print from
drop down box
Click limit/sort button
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178 print items out of the prior 764 results
that included non-print materials - audio
cassettes, microform, etc.
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LawCat searching author search
can also search by author from main search screen
click "author" radio button type "Smith,
Michael"
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• Primary Sources

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LawCat searching Primary Source
You want to find where the South Eastern
Reporter, a primary source, is located in the law
library
click "title" radio button, and enter "South
Eastern Reporter"
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LawCat searching Primary Source
choose "Second Series"
Choose Wests south eastern reporter
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LawCat searching Location and Range numbers
Location Georgia Collection GA-4 denotes fourth
range of shelves in the Georgia collection
GA-4 denotes Georgia Collection, fourth range of
shelves
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Another example of location and range numbers for
reporters North Eastern Reporter
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Interpreting legal abbreviations
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Interpreting an abbreviation you dont know
Northern Kentucky Law Review
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Interpreting a citation - appendices
The ALWD Citation Manual Appendix 1 identifies
primary sources for each jurisdiction Appendix 3
general abbreviations Appendix 4 court
abbreviations Appendix 5 abbreviations for
legal periodicals
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Interpreting a citation
The Bluebook A Uniform System of Citation ( 18th
ed.) Table 1 identifies primary sources for each
jurisdiction