Rightslink: Research Tips: Domestic and International Law

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Rightslink Research Tips Domestic and
International Law

• Dana Neacsu, Fall 2007

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Today We Will Cover

• Legal Research as a Two-fold Process
• How to Use Finding Aid Tools.
• Catalogs and Indexes to Legal Periodicals
• Top 10 source gathering sources
• Identifying unknown abbreviations
• Research Tips
• Domestic law
• International law
• IV. Library Hours

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II. Finding SourcesLibrary Catalogs

• Use the following catalogs for the following
  specific tasks
• the Diamond Law Librarys catalog,
  PEGASUS-http//pegasus.law.columbia.edu/- for
  legal scholarship
• the University Libraries catalog, CLIO, for both
  legal and non-legal scholarship
• and WorldCat to find such sources beyond the
  Columbia system.

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Finding SourcesIndexes to Legal Periodicals

• Use Specialized Periodical Indexes
• Wilsons Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP) and the
  Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP). 
• Available from PEGASUS-http//pegasus.law.columbia
  .edu/
• PAIS, ABI/Inform, ProQuest, EconLit, etc FRANCIS
  (International Humanities and Social Science),
  PsycINFO, Social Science Full-text, ERIC, etc.

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2. Top 10 source gathering sources (I)

• The Library of Congress. Thomas. Legislative
  Information on the Internet
• http//thomas.loc.gov
• 9. American Memory Project
• http//memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html
  
• 8. HeinOnline from Pegasus
• Law Reviews (complimenting L/WL)
• Official treaty sources (and more)
• 7. UN Official Document System (ODS)
• http//www.ods.un.org/

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Top 10 Source Gathering Sources (II)

• 6. Foreign Law Guide (aka Reynolds and Flores)
  (Pegasus)
• 5. Non-law (CLIO) databases
• JSTOR Project Muse
• 3. Google Uncle Sam (gov. related docs)
• http//www.google.com/ig/usgov
• 2. Government documents (GPO) primary sources
• www.gpoaccess.gov

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Top 10 Source Gathering Sources (III)

• 1. Library Research Sources
• CLS Research Guides http//www.law.columbia.ed
  u/library/Research_Guides
• NYU Globalex
• http//www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/

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3. Identifying Unknown Abbreviations

• Biebers Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations
• Print Reference Office drawer
• Lexis
• Find a source Biebers
• The Bluebook
• Print The Reserve Area

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III. Research Tips. Overview

• Learn how to identify and use Research (Finding
  Aid) Tools and Legal Scholarship to find
  Domestic, International or Foreign Primary
  Sources
• Apply the well-known research strategy
• Come up with a research plan, and
• Keep a research log

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Domestic Law Research. Finding Aid Tools

• The Main Finding Aid Tools are
• Library Catalogs for treatises, practitioners
  sources (Am.Jur), Restatements, Encyclopedias,
  etc.
• Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP) for law review
  articles

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Minimal Knowledge in an Area of Law Go to a
Treatise.

• How to Find a Treatise
• Library Catalogs-Pegasus
• http//pegasus.law.columbia.edu
• Lexis
• http//www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/
• Westlaw
• http//lawschool.westlaw.com/

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Minimal Knowledge in a More Concrete Area Use
ILP to Locate Law Review Articles

• Use Pegasus http//pegasus.law.columbia.edu
• Find Indexes to Legal Periodicals
• Find Law Review Articles (HeinonLine)
• Lexis
• http//www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/
• Westlaw
• http//lawschool.westlaw.com/
• Both have the current version of the ILP
• Both have most (current) law review articles

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Primary Sources in Domestic Law

• Statutes
• Codes, Session Laws, Legislative history,
• Research tips Use USCA Index
• Administrative Law
• CFR, FR.
• Research tips Use RegulationsPlus Index
• Case law
• Case Law Research
• Full-text searching (Lexis Westlaw)
• Other approaches (Segments West-Digest)

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III. Research Tips. International Law

• Research Strategy
• Identify useful research tools (IFLP) and la
  doctrine
• Identify the Relevant Primary Sources
• Treaty Research.
• Case Law Research
• Doctrine Research (same search strategy for
  secondary sources

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Primary Sources in International Law

• What Is International Law?
• Restatement of the Law 3d Foreign Relations Law
  of the United States
• Article 102-Sources of International Law
• Article 103-Evidence of International Law
• How Do You Find It?
• Official Web Sites/Lexis/Westlaw/

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Treaties and Treaty Research

• UN Treaties and Other Documents
• Is the US party to CEDAW?
• What is CEDAW (Biebers) (Lexis)
• Where can you find its text?
• Use UN Treaty Series, HeinOnline (Pegasus), Lexis
  or Westlaw to find CEDAW
• What 2001 document from the Sixth Committee
  details the establishment of the International
  Criminal Court.
• What is the document number? Use Unbisnet
  (un.org) or Access UN A/56/591
• Is the full text available?

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International Case Law Research

• What is the ICJ case about the U.S. paramilitary
  activities in South America?
• Where can you find the decision?
• On the official website
• Where can you find the pleadings?
• On line and in print in our library (use Pegasus)

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IV. Library Hours for Fall 2007

• Ref office hours
• M-Th 10-8
• F 10-5
• Sat. 1-6
• Sun 1-9