Introduction to Legal Research

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Introduction to Legal Research

• Sara Burriesci
• Reference Librarian
• 662-9142 sek28_at_law.georgetown.edu

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What Well Discuss

• Purpose of legal research
• Types of authority
• Constitutions
• Statutes
• Secondary sources

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Purpose of Legal Research?
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Types of Authority

• Primary
• Mandatory/Binding
• Persuasive
• Examples?
• Secondary
• Never mandatory/binding
• Examples?
• Why use?

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Fact Pattern
Your clients dog, a pitbull, gets out of the
house and bites the mailman. He has never bitten
anyone before. Is the dog owner liable? Or does
every dog get the first bite free?
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Primary Sources
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Constitutions

• What are they?
• How many are there in the U.S.?
• Where do you find them?

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Statutes

• What are they?
• Where do you find them?

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Statutes - Codes

• Subject arrangement of statutes currently in
  force
• Annotated vs. unannotated
• Three versions of federal code
• United States Code
• U.S.C. Annotated (West)
• U.S.C. Service (Lexis)
• Typically also contain constitution

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Statutes Codes Print
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Statutes Codes Print
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Statutes Codes Print
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Statutes Codes Westlaw
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Statutes Codes Westlaw
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Statutes Codes Westlaw
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Statutes Codes Westlaw
Natural language
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Statutes Codes Westlaw
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Statutes Codes Westlaw
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Statutes Codes Lexis
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Statutes Codes Lexis
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Statutes Codes Lexis
No index.
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Statutes Codes Lexis
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Statutes Codes Lexis
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Secondary Sources
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Sec. Sources Treatises

• Books (some multi-volume)
• Some are online
• To find print (and some electronic), use library
  catalog

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Treatises
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Treatises
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Treatises
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Encyclopedias

• General U.S.
• American Jurisprudence
• Corpus Juris Secundum
• American Law Reports
• State Encyclopedias
• E.g., New York Jurisprudence

Westlaw only. Not exactly an encyclopedia.
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Encyclopedias
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Encyclopedias
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Encyclopedias - Westlaw
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Encyclopedias - Lexis
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Encyclopedias Lexis
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American Law Reports Westlaw
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American Law Reports Westlaw
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American Law Reports - Lexis
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American Law Reports - Lexis
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Sec. Sources Restatements

• Written by scholars and judges (American Law
  Institute)
• Mostly cover traditional common law subjects,
  e.g., contracts, property, torts
• Mostly present majority rules not the law of
  any particular state
• Where to find?

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Restatement (Second) of Torts

• 3 main volumes, each with own index.
• Some other Restatements have consolidated index.

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Restatement (Second) of Torts
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Restatements Westlaw Lexis
(Directory)
(Directory)
(Directory)
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Sec. Sources Law Review Articles

• Mostly written by law professors and law students
• Cover more current issues than treatises,
  encyclopedias, restatements
• Search full-text on Westlaw or Lexis
• Indexes available through library web site (cover
  many journals not available on Westlaw or Lexis)

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Law Reviews Westlaw
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Law Reviews Lexis
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Sec. Sources News

• very current issues
• background information

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News - Lexis
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News Lexis
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News - Lexis
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News Westlaw
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News Westlaw
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Questions?

• Reference desk 202-662-9140
• Sara Burriesci 202-662-9142, sek28_at_law.georgetown
  .edu