T1 Secondary Legal Sources

Topic 1

What is a secondary legal source?

• A secondary legal source: is a source of information about the law

What are the 5 types of secondary legal sources:

1. Legal encyclopaedias

2. Legal dictionaries

3. Books and eBooks

4. Legal commentaries

5. Journal articles

what is a primary legal source?

• (case law, legislation, constitutions) – these are sources of law itself

When to search for secondary legal sources?

• When you need to find out what the law is:

  • What are the legal principles which apply in an area of law?

  • What are the leading authorities (primary sources of law) in an area of law?

• When you need help understanding the law:

  • What is the history of the development of an area of law?

  • What is the significance of a newly-decided case or newly-enacted piece of legislation?

• When you need to conduct a specific legal research task (e.g. for the purposes of a research essay, honours thesis, law reform submission, journal article)

what are legal encyclopaedias?

• Provide commentary on the state of the law

• Very useful for background reading and early-stage research

• Start with these if you know nothing/very little about an area of law

• Updated fairly regularly

  

what are examples of legal encyclopaedias?

• Halsbury’s Laws of Australia

• Laws of Australia

what are legal dictionaries?

• Provide authoritative definitions of legal terms and phrases

• Useful for finding out the meaning of a legal term or phrase

• Updated fairly regularly

what are examples of legal dictionaries?

• Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary

• Australian legal Words and Phrases

  

what are books/ebooks?

• Provide a robust overview and analysis of a particular area of law

• Similar to legal encyclopaedias, but typically aren’t published or updated as frequently

what are legal commentaries?

Legal commentaries are in-depth analyses of specific areas of law, often written by experts. They provide insights, interpretations, and critiques of legal principles and case law.

• Provide information about one particular area of law

• Similar to legal encyclopaedias, but focus on one area of law only (e.g. contract law) — Updated fairly regularly

what are journal articles?

• Short pieces of commentary on the law published in legal journals

• Provide detailed analysis and opinions on a specific aspect of an area of law

• Published regularly (so can be more current)

what are the 4 things to consider when evaluating the appropriateness and usefulness of secondary legal sources?

1. authority

2. currency

3. objectivity

4. relevance

what is authority when evaluating the appropriateness and usefulness of secondary legal sources?

AUTHORITY (PUBLISHER)

* Who is the publisher of the source?

* Are they reputable?

* Do they usually publish scholarly materials?

* If it is a journal article, is it published in a peer reviewed journal?

AUTHORITY (AUTHOR)

* Who is the author?

* Are the qualified in this area of law?

what is currency when evaluating the appropriateness and usefulness of secondary legal sources?

• When was the source published or last updated?

• Is it sufficiently current?

 

what is objectivity when evaluating the appropriateness and usefulness of secondary legal sources?

* Does the source appear to be objective and unbiased?

* Does the source acknowledge different points of view (eg counter arguments)?

* Does the source present a balanced argument?

* Does the source cite other reputable scholarly sources?

what is relevance when evaluating the appropriateness and usefulness of secondary legal sources?

* Is the source relevant to the topic or issue I am researching?

* What jurisdiction does the source relate to?

primary sources vs secondary sources

** secondary sources do not include ChatGPT, not google, not lecture slides, not Wikipedia