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| Start New | Message Index | Flat View |
| Re: Looking for online legal research resources |
| Author: | Gail |
| Date: | Monday, 21st Jul 2003 10:52 |
| Views: | 2,611 (excluding Digests and RSS feeds) |
| Category: | Information Issues | | URL: | http://www.freepint.com/go/b24801 |
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I am responding both to your original posting and also your subsequent comments on a book about legal information in a different thread
You asked about learning about legal research but which country's legal system are you talking about? and is it a common law system [such as English law] or a codified system [such as French law]...the way you would carry out legal research would be quite different depending on the answer to both these questions - jurisdictions are not interchangeable!
Having spent over 20 years learning, teaching and researching law as well as training others to do legal research [LR], my view is not to expect too much from one book/course or even several because
1 LR is entirely context-driven
2 LR is a hands-on process where you learn by doing
3 To do LR properly, you must be able to access a range of sophisticated legal materials and tools whose high level of publishing input - annotating, abstracting, indexing, cross-referencing etc etc - mean they are subscription only and prohibitively expensive for anyone other than those who need them for their businesses eg law firms [NB academic law libraries get special rates]
If we are talking about the law of England and Wales [there has always been a different Scottish legal system even before devolution and I'm not even to start on EU legal info], then you cannot possibly do LR unless you understand the significance of the many kinds of legal materials involved and the inter-relationship they have with each other.....but it goes way beyond just that, eg you cannot properly identify the judicial status of an existing case unless you have some knowledge of the rules of precedent and how it is that some cases are 'distinguished' and others 'followed' [which is different from 'applied'!]
First year law students study modules on 'The English Legal System' [and sometimes 'Legal Method'], that covers various aspects like Statutory Interpretation, the role of the courts, delegated legislation etc and "Learning the Law" by Glanville Williams is a perennial reading list title - books used for Institute of Legal Executives exams have useful sections too especially about litigation procedures....as a simple intro I suggest the Nutshells series by Sweet & Maxwell and in particular 'English Legal System' by Dr Penny Darbyshire - if you look for it on Amazon, you will see other relevant titles in the same section
BUT legal research is a practical activity and no amount of reading is likely to do you any good unless you are actually in a job carrying out the activity regularly and increasing your knowledge on an experiential basis - otherwise it would be like trying to learn typing without a keyboard! [I learnt more about legal information resources in 3 months of answering enquiries in a law firm library than I did in 4 years of a law degree.]
Another reason why you need to be working in an environment where you are using specialist print and electronic legal materials is that it is really not possible to carry out reliable legal research in English law using free services on the internet. Webites like HMSO, the Court Service or BAILII - although fine for what they are - can be inadvertently misleading if you don't know what you are doing - these sites do not try to say what the law IS....of course understanding the parameters of any database is fundamental to its effective use, but here are some examples of potential problems in the legal minefield for the unwary
As I have often said before on FreePint, full-text is not the same as up to date text ....on the HMSO + BAILII websites, you can see displayed section 22 of the Health Act 1999 [but not know it has never been brought into force so has no effect] or ss 8-14 of the Social Security Act 1990 [but not know they were subsequently repealed or what replaced them] or Statutory Instrument 2002/2868 [but not know it was revoked in 2003].......and again, the Statutes sections only start from 1988 but my Index to Halsbury's Statutes has over 50 pages of refs to pre-1988 statutes that are still in force in whole or in part
As for cases, eg on BAILII you can find Crees v Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Ltd [aka Kwik Save Stores Ltd v Greaves], a Court of Appeal case from 1998 but you cannot tell that it was overruled in 2001 in a House of Lords case, Halfpenny v IGE Medical Systems Ltd
As ever, awareness of factors that affect the reliability of [legal] information you find on the internet and elsewhere is vital
Regards
Gail
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| Start New | |
| Topic |
Author |
Date |
ID |
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falhlax olak |
23/05/03 11:44 |
23842 |
|
Jane Macoustra |
28/08/03 19:43 |
25420 |
|
falhlax olak |
29/08/03 08:55 |
25428 |
  | Re: Looking for online legal research resources | | I am responding both to your original posting and also your subsequent comments on a book about legal information in ... |
|
Gail |
21/07/03 10:52 |
24801 |
|
falhax olak |
23/07/03 17:48 |
24842 |
|
falhlax olak |
30/05/03 11:45 |
23920 |
|
vicki brown |
27/08/03 10:16 |
25385 |
|
Rainer Langenhan |
29/08/03 13:01 |
25435 |
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Caroline |
30/05/03 11:45 |
23919 |
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Dr Bill Smith |
28/05/03 16:54 |
23900 |
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falhlax olak |
28/05/03 07:21 |
23896 |
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Kylie Baxter |
27/05/03 13:28 |
23886 |
|
Ciara O'Duinnin |
27/05/03 12:39 |
23883 |
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Atalanta |
23/05/03 14:49 |
23854 |
| | Re: Looking for online legal research resources | | Here's a few web sites for starters:
European Union Law
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/index.html
UK Statutes
http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts.htm
UK Statutory Instruments
http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/stat.htm
Hieros Gamos Legal Research Centre
http://www.hg.org/index.html
World Legal Information Institute ... |
|
Hilary Kendall |
23/05/03 13:17 |
23848 |
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