Secondary Sources – Why Search for Secondary Sources?
Legal research and problem solving methodologies move from the broad and general to the narrow and particular. Before you zero in on your legal research problem, you need a firm grasp on and a solid understanding of the general area of law being researched. This will ensure that you do not "miss the forest for the trees”!
Secondary sources help you:
- gather information on a new or unfamiliar topic;
- situate and contextualize the legal problem or debate;
- define the legal issue(s);
- gain historical and contextual background information not likely to be stated in cases, statutes, or other legal authorities;
- identify legal subjects, concepts or issues not yet considered;
- critique the law through the lens of perspectives as diverse as feminism, social justice, and law and economics; and,
- develop search strategies and effective keywords and search strings.
Note: It is rarely, if ever, appropriate or wise to commence legal research by searching for case law or by reading a statute. Even if your ultimate goal is to find a case on topic X, start with secondary sources!
- Secondary sources often refer to important precedents and relevant legislation that govern the specific legal area in question.
- They will save you hours of research time!
Secondary sources are also very user-friendly.
- Many include tables of statutes and tables of cases that may be scanned for important case law and legislation.
- Similarly, annotated statutes and legal encyclopedias include explanatory remarks and footnotes that will save you hours of time pouring over statutory and regulatory indexes by pointing you directly to the relevant cases and statutes!
Finally, while secondary sources are not considered binding authority, there are rare instances where a court might find that a particular secondary source carries significant persuasive authority.
- For example, when dealing with a novel or unsettled legal issue, a court may rely on a secondary source when reaching its decision.