Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: L. Cindy Dabney
Profession: Student

Category: Book Research--Secondary Sources

I have been horrible, and I apologize. On top of that, I lied as to what I would be writing about next. I have decided to write about secondary sources in books. Secondary sources are often the place that you want to start in your research, particularly if you don't know much about your area of law, because it will give you good grounding.

They are meant to be for you, though; they are almost never to be cited to a court. They are not binding, but they are often excellent overviews of the law in certain areas. I will go into more depth in later entries, but for now, I would like to just give you a list of the main secondary sources, and what their purposes are.

So, in no particular order--

Black's Law Dictionary--This is probably the simplest secondary source. It is exactly what it sounds like, a dictionary for turning legalese into English. Go here first if there are terms in your question that you are not familiar with.

Nutshells--These are probably my favorite secondary sources. They are published by West (as most books are) and are called things like "Contracts in a Nutshell" or "Torts in a Nutshell." I of course recommend "Legal Research in a Nutshell." They usually take me about an afternoon to read, and they give a short, generalized view of a particular area of the law. The reason that I'm so fond of then is that, as I'm only a month or two out of law school, they are invaluable on exams. My study practices, which are not what they should be, I know, are to reread my class notes, and to read the nutshell for the class because it usually tells me everything I need to know. They would be less useful to a practicing lawyer, though, because they are really aimed at beginners.

Hornbooks--These again are things that you would use mostly in law school. They are much lengthier and in-depth versions of nutshells--everything you need to know about a certain area of law including key cases and such. You could not read one of these in an afternoon, but it will have all the most important things to know about your area, and is good reference. There are numerous different hornbooks, and they are published by all different companies.

Loose-leaf Services--These are rather like hornbooks, except they grow and change with the law. You would probably have one for a certain area of the law, and it would come in a large binder, or set of binders. As the law changes, the company that you bought the service from would send you new pages to add to your binder, or even to replace other pages. This could be a tool for either a lawyer of a law student. It is usually an overview of the law, but it is relatively current as compared to hornbooks.

Legal Encyclopedias--These are exactly what they sound like--encyclopedias. If you were to have a particular question that you know almost nothing about these should probably be your first stop, because they will a little blurb on each topic just like a normal encyclopedia would have, with the bare bones of the law and some of the most important cases. This is the first resource that may be geared at either a lawyer or a law student, because it deals with issues rather than whole areas of law. There are two legal encyclopedias, American Jurisprudence (AmJur) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS). If you have a certain issue I recommend looking it up in both, the entries are not going to be more than a page, and often give very helpful citations. There are various off shoots of these, too, like AmJur Proof of Facts for more specialized areas.

American Law Reports (ALRs)--These are very interesting books. Essentially each article in an ALR takes a situation, exactly like you might find on a law school exam or in a real case and applies the law in depth. If you were ever to find a relatively recent ALR that matches up with your case then you have hit a gold mine--it will tell you everything you need to know clearly, and in detail. While it still cannot be cited, it will give you all the cases you need, and every argument. I personally am a little shaky on ALRs--they are very well done, but I've never had a situation in which I've found exactly what I wanted from them. If you do though, you are set for life.

Journals & Law Reviews--Every law school puts out at least on Journal or Law Review, and usually more than one. Here at the University of New Mexico we've got the basic New Mexico Law Review, the Tribal Law Journal, and, my personal favorite, the Natural resources journal, which has a certain amount of acclaim. Basically they are articles, comments and notes written by students and professors about whatever interests the author. These are more opinions than anything else, but they are very useful, not only to see a well argued opinion, but also they usually have good citations. If you are writing a paper of your own, I had to do several for law school courses and wish to have a well reasoned opinion to argue either for or against journals are a good place to go.

Restatements--These are the most official secondary source, and the only one that I would consider actually citing in a legal case. Restatements are written by a panel of the most respected lawyers and professors and even judges available. They write, as the name might suggest, a restatement of an area of law. These can be very useful, and they are official, but, as one might expect from eminent lawyers, judges, and professors it is a bit of a tough read. Also, there are only select areas of law that have restatements attached, and they are not necessarily the areas of law that one might expect. But they are citable, which can be very nice in a secondary source.

Those I think are the most basic secondary sources. In up coming entries I will talk a little about how to actually use each of these sources in paper. Forgive me again for the hiatus, and I will try to be more regular about updating.