Sources of Primary Law

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Sources of Primary Law

• Constitutions
• Statutes
• Court Opinions (also called Cases)
• Administrative Regulations

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U. S. Constitution
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Executive
Judiciary
Congress
administrative regulations
court opinions (case law)
statutes
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Main Secondary Sources

• Legal encyclopedias
• American Law Reports (ALR)
• Treatises
• Periodicals - journals law reviews
• Restatements of Law

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Legal Authority
Primary Secondary Mandatory Persuasive
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How to find secondary sources?
LawCat
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Legal treatises
Multi-volume scholarly works, e.g. Corbin on
Contracts
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Legal treatises
Single volume hornbooks, e.g., Prosser Keeton
on Torts
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Hornbook - Table of Cases
Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co.
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Hornbook - Table of Cases
Palsgraf discussed on p.284 in chapter on
"Proximate Cause"
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LawCat searching - terms
Treatise on healthcare Search term "healthcare"
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LawCat searching - terms
16 results
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LawCat searching - terms
Treatise on healthcare Search term "health care"
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LawCat searching - terms
210 results
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LawCat searching - truncation
Use truncation - need treatise on "Workers'
Compensation"
Use asterisk "work compensation"
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LawCat searching - truncation
114 results
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LawCat searching - jurisdiction
can narrow search by entering jurisdiction
"work compensation georgia"
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LawCat searching - jurisdiction
45 results
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LawCat searching - limiting
searching for a treatise on real property
"real property"
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LawCat searching - jurisdiction
226 results
can select "limit this search" button
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LawCat searching - jurisdiction
search for author Jerome Whalen
click "limit/sort" button
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LawCat searching - jurisdiction
Commercial Ground Leases by Jerome Whalen
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LawCat searching - limiting
can also search by author from main search screen
click "author" radio button term "Smith,
Michael"
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LawCat searching - range numbers
want to find where the Southeastern Reporter is
located
click "title" radio button, and enter
"Southeastern Reporter"
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LawCat searching - range numbers
choose "Second Series"
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LawCat searching - truncation
GA-4 denotes Georgia Collection, fourth range
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Interpreting a case cite
What is? 224 So.2d 554 Volume 224 Wests
Southern Reporter 2d series not edition Page 554
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Interpreting a citation
How do you interpret whats between the volume
and the page ? 25 N. Ky. L. Rev. 615 James
P. Walsh, No preemption of Kentucky tort law
claims by the Federal Medical Device Amendments
(case note)
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Interpreting a citation
Northern Kentucky Law Review
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Interpreting a citation
The ALWD Citation Manual
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Interpreting a citation
The Bluebook A Uniform System of Citation ( 17th
ed.)