Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Secondary (Commentary)
o Statements about the law used to explain, interpret, develop or locate primary authorities o Explains the law o Examples: treatises, legal encyclopedias, restatements, law reviews
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Mandatory precedent Court must follow as binding Persuasive Precedent Court may follow -- but not binding
Secondary Authority
Update primary authority to make sure still good law Revise as necessary, and find additional primary or secondary authority
o Depends on what you find initially o Constantly evolving process as you sort through issues
o Citators used to confirm that the law youre reading is still good law.
Additional types:
o Form books o Dictionaries o Uniform Laws & Model Acts
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
Broad coverage Alphabetical arrangement (usually) of topics Main topics divided into subtopics Individual articles usually assigned section numbers Two main national Encyclopedias Footnotes usually give citations to cases and statutes (primary authority). Updated: Often by annual Pocket Parts When/Why/Why Not?
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TREATISES
Treatise = commentaries on a single area of law written by legal scholars and practitioners. Types of Treatises
o Student Oriented
Usually at least one for every major area of law in law school. Hornbooks = treatises aimed at students; helps clarify concepts
o Practitioner Oriented
Treatise Finder
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RESTATEMENTS
Written by a group of experts in a particular field of law, and only covers some common law topics. Provides black letter law and considered most authoritative of all secondary sources according to PLR, and routinely cited by courts. When considering using as persuasive source, research as to whether your jurisdiction already follows particular restatement rules for that topic.
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LAW REVIEWS
Often very scholarly and theoretical on current or cutting edge issues Tons of footnotes with lots of references to primary as well as secondary authorities Usually easiest to find online by searching electronic database. Law review citation example:
o Mark Latham, The Rehnquist Court and the Pollution Control Cases: Anti-Environmental and Pro-Business? 10 U. PENN. J. OF CON. LAW 133 (2007).
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