Commonly Used Secondary Sources
Legal dictionaries contain definitions of legal terms.
Legal dictionaries are useful for when you do not know what a word, especially a term of art, means.
Black's Law Dictionary (Available in Print or Electronically) by Call Number: KF156 .B53 2014ISBN: 9780314613004Publication Date: 2014-05-01This comprehensive law dictionary contains more than 50,000 terms and includes definitions of more than 1,000 law-related abbreviations and acronyms. More than 7,500 terms new to this edition include bioweapon, gazump, hacker, mommy track, unperson and zero-tolerance law.- Ballentine's Law Dictionary (Available Electronically)Ballentine's Law Dictionary contains over 40,000 definitions of legal term "based on the actual construction of those terms by courts of last resort, with each case cited to the page on which the definition appears."
- Barron's Law Dictionary (Available Electronically)This dictionary, however, is intended to be a portable, useful, study aid for the law student or anyone else who, in a professional way, comes in contact with unfamiliar legal jargon and wants a comprehensible explanation that will permit a basic understanding of the word or phrase. It is hoped that first-year law students in particular will use the book constantly in their reading of cases and will find new legal terms becoming clearer in a matter of moments and becoming a permanent part of their legal vocabulary after several references.
- Words and Phrases (Available Electronically)All judicial constructions and definitions of words and phrases by the State and Federal courts from the earliest times, alphabetically arranged and indexed.
Legal encyclopedias provide an overview of the "the law." Legal encyclopedias typically have a wonderful breadth of coverage, giving background information on a wide range of legal topics and areas of the law. They usually are the best starting point for your research.
Legal encyclopedias are useful for:
- When you know very little about the area of law and you want to get the basics (no in-depth analysis).
- Great for providing background information and for identifying many of the key issues in a particular are of law.
- Legal encyclopedias are rarely, if ever, cited in legal documents.
- American Jurisprudence 2d (Available Electronically) (Westlaw)American jurisprudence 2d is an encyclopedia containing over 400 separate titles on a broad range of legal topics. Generally, American Jurisprudence covers federal issues; however, there topics that include state issues.
- American Jurisprudence 2d (Available Electronically) (Lexis)American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, published by West Publishing Company a division of Thomson Reuters, is an encyclopedic text of both procedural and substantive American law, state, federal, criminal, civil and procedural. Consisting of over 430 topic headings (titles), Am Jur 2d articles collect, examine, and summarize the broad principles of American law and, at the same time, provide direct leads to supporting cases, related annotations, forms, proofs, and trial techniques.
- Corpus Juris Secundum (Available Electronically)C.J.S., a national legal encyclopedia, covers state and federal legal topics from A to Z. General rules of law are summarized in blackletter law headings and expanded upon in the text. The book also provides the limitations and exceptions to the rules where appropriate. Since the citations and the supporting cases involve both state and federal courts, the user gets a full perspective of the law in a local jurisdiction as well as across the country.
- Tennessee Jurisprudence (Available Electronically)Tennessee Jurisprudence offers encyclopedic treatment of the civil and criminal law of Tennessee. It analyzes the state's case law, statutes, rules, and regulations, and offers extensive references to other publications to save you valuable research time.
Legal treatises provide in-depth commentary on a variety of legal topics. They can be topic-specific and jurisdiction specific.
Treatises are useful for:
- When you know what area of law you are concerned with and you have a pretty good idea of what your issue is.
- Comprehensive In-Depth Examination of a Particular Area of Law.
- Well regarded treatises can be cited in legal documents but do so cautiously.
- Bloomberg Law Treatise ListFrom the Home Page, Click on "Books & Treatises" under "Secondary Sources"
Legal Periodicals, also known as Law Reviews, Journals, and Bar Journals, are another great secondary source for researchers looking to start and expand upon their research. Reviews and journals contain articles and essays by law professors, judges, and other legal scholars in the academic legal community. These articles contain a wealth of information, including extensive footnotes that cite to primary authority and other secondary resources. While law review articles themselves can be helpful in legal research, it is the footnotes that make them so valuable to researchers seeking the most relevant and persuasive primary authority.
Legal periodicals are useful for:
- When you are faced with an issue of first impression.
- Covering single, narrow topics and often recent conflicts in the law.
- These are academic and many times theoretical.
- Rarely cited as authority in legal documents, unless there is absolutely nothing else to cite.
- Not updated like other secondary sources. Once an article is written, it is written.
- Legal Periodicals on HeinOnlineThe full law journal library is available within HeinOnline by clicking on "Law Journal Library."
American Law Reports (ALR) combines elements of both legal encyclopedias and case reporters. American Law Reports (ALR) annotations provide articles on a huge array of very specific legal topics, which are very similar to articles one might find in a legal encyclopedia. Unlike a legal encyclopedia, ALR annotations are very specific in coverage, dealing with narrow topics. Each article not only discusses the topic but also includes one of the most comprehensive primary source citations available in more detail than those presented in a legal encyclopedia. If you can find an ALR article on your topic, it truly can be the keys to the research kingdom.
ALR includes seven general ALR series (ALR 1st through 7th), covering topics that tend to come up at the state level, and three federal ALR series (ALR Fed. 1st through 3rd), covering federal law topics. ALRs are available in Westlaw and Lexis. Westlaw's coverage is a bit more comprehensive, as Lexis does not include the ALR 1st series.
American Law Reports (ALR) are useful for:
- In-Depth Look at Particularly Narrow Issue: narrow and specific topics.
- Citations to Relevant Statutes and Key Cases: Great source for useful citations to case law across jurisdictions (federal and state)
- Annotations have Table of Jurisdictions and a list of related annotations you might wish to look at
- Know Your Area of Law and Know Your Issue: When you know what area of law you are concerned with and you have a pretty good idea of what your issue is.
- Cited in legal documents only to support a trend across jurisdictions on narrow legal issues.
The Restatements are a secondary resource published by The American Law Institute (ALI). Founded in 1923 and composed of prominent judges, attorneys, and law professors, ALI promulgates the Restatements, as well as model statutes and principles of law. Covering a variety of fields, the Restatements essentially "restate" the common law rules as they have developed over time in the majority of U.S. jurisdictions. Along with providing common law doctrines, the Restatements include commentary, hypotheticals illustrating how the rules should apply, and case summaries. The Restatements generally carry substantial weight as persuasive authority and are frequently cited.
When restatements are useful:
- Common-Law Subjects:
- Restatements provide a distillation of the common law, including comments & illustrations to explain
- Restatements can help you locate case law from your jurisdiction that has cited a Restatement section, comment, or illustration.
- Restatements can help support your interpretation of the law when there is no relevant case law discussing your issue
- Because restatements cover broad topics of law in a very general way, they are not the best place to start your research.
- Exception: you already know which Restatement sections apply to your research.
- Restatements are the most widely cited type of secondary source as a court can adopt a section or part of a section as law.
When uniform laws and model acts are useful:
- Policy Writing: Uniform Laws and Model Acts are very valuable in policy writing.
Restatements, model acts and uniform acts can become enforceable law only when they are incorporated by statute or court opinion.
Practice materials are books that go in depth on a particular area of the law. Practice materials are typically geared towards attorneys practicing in those areas, and practice guides tend to be more detailed than legal encyclopedias. Accordingly, while legal encyclopedias will provide a good starting point to get oriented to an area of law and to identify the legal issues, practice guides will assist you in developing a more comprehensive understanding of the topic and should provide even more references to cases and other primary authority.
When practice materials are most useful:
- Practical Issues: When you are dealing with an issue that involves how to actually do something; how to make a motion, what the standard for something is, how to send a cease-and-desist letter, how to draft a contract, etc.
- Succinctly explain the law
- Sample Forms or Drafts
- Guidance on how to succeed at a particular action.
- Bloomberg Law Practice CenterClick on the topic specific practice center on the left side of the screen.
When Bar and CLE materials are most useful:
- Guidance or Analysis on a Specific Practical Matter: e.g., document requests, attorney ethics, or a recent development in the law.
- Practice-Oriented Materials
- Free/Cheap Legal Research
How to locate and search Bar and CLE materials:
- Bar Association Websites: however, many times their materials are behind paywalls
- CLE Materials on Bloomberg LawBloomberg Law has limited CLE materials.
When current awareness tools, blogs, and law firm websites are most useful:
- Information about a very recent development in the law.
- News about particular attorneys, clients, judges, etc.
- Guidance and insight on particular issues.
How to locate and search current awareness tools, blogs, and law firm websites:
- Legal Research Guides: they often list important current awareness resources and are available for free on law library websites.
- Bloomberg Law News and AnalysisClick on "News & Analysis"
