Legal research can be defined as the process by which Law-related Information is discovered and collected which in turn helps in making legal decisions. In a legal research, each phase has a course of action that starts with an examination of the facts of an issue and ends with the implementation and presentation of the investigation results (Steven M. Barkan et al., 2015). In the beginning, gaining expertise in legal research is to attain understanding of the types of materials that constitute "the law," and the connections between these resources. While investigating a legal issue, it is also appropriate to examine laws (legislative enactments), cases (judicial opinions), and/or statutory documents (regulations and decisions of administrative agencies). All these resources are considered as "primary sources." However, most researchers look for at least one additional resource, called "secondary sources," to assist their investigation or research. Mostly, sources used in Legal Research are Primary Sources and Secondary Sources. Visite : https://www.phdassistance.com/blog/ Contact Us: UK NO: +44-1143520021 India No: +91-8754446690 Email: info@phdassistance.com

1. WHAT ARE THE
DIFFERENT PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY SOURCES OF
LAW UK RESEARCH?
An Academic presentation by
Dr. Nancy Agens, Head, Technical Operations, Phdassistance
Group www.phdassistance.com
Email: info@phdassistance.com

2. In Brief
Introduction
Primary Sources
Case Law
Legalization
Outline
TODAY'S DISCUSSION
Secondary Sources
Law Journals
Textbooks
Conclusion

3. In Brief
This article covers the different types of
Primary and Secondary sources based on UK
laws and statutory. Also, this article provides
useful Information on how and where to find
these sources.

4. Legal research can be defined as the process by which Law-related Information is discovered
and collected which in turn helps in making legal decisions.
In a legal research, each phase has a course of action that starts with an examination of the
facts of an issue and ends with the implementation and presentation of the investigation
results.
While investigating a legal issue, it is also appropriate to examine laws (legislative
enactments), cases (judicial opinions), and/or statutory documents.
Mostly, sources used in Legal Research are Primary Sources and Secondary Sources.
Introduction

5. 1. Primary Sources
Primary sources refer to the laws themselves which comes from the official bodies and
it generally includes treaties, court decisions, tribunals, statutes, regulations, court
records, legal texts and government documents.
The following are the forms of primary forms of UK law sources:
1. Case law provided by the courts
2. Legislation passed by Parliament

6. Case law comprises of the decisions made by the courts and are published as “law reports”.
The effective Implementation of the law depends on producing accurate law reports.
Law Reports:
A law report can be characterized as the reprint of the full text comprising of the judgment,
statement of facts and the judicial decisions and reasoning made by the judges.
Some of the most authoritative series are mentioned here are read by the judges before the
Publication of law Reports.
Weekly Law Reports:
Published to serve as a draft copy of the cases that will be updated into the official Law Reports.
Contd..
Case Law

7. All England Law: These are the collection of reports most commonly cited for recent cases.
Specialist series: Covers a particular subject area of law, e.g. Criminal Court Reports,
Environmental Law Reports, Business Law Proceedings, Family Law Reports, etc.
English Reports:
The English Reports series covers most proceedings before 1865; it can be found online for
free and there are several websites which offer free access to selected case laws:
British and Irish Legal Information Institute (http://www.bailii.org/)
Parliament Publications: House of Lords Decisions
(http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldjudgmt.htm)
Supreme Court Decided Cases (http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/decidedcases/index.html)
Proceedings of the Old Bailey (http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/)

8. Legalization
The UK lacks a clear, written constitution and it was also described as "partially written and
totally uncodified."
Most of its parts are written based on the laws passed by the parliament.
Such laws come in the form of legislation that is applicable to the whole of the UK.
Draft legislation (Bills): Proposals for new Laws or changes to current law are done in the
form of Bills.
Primary Legislation: Includes Acts of Parliament or Statutes (the terms are interchangeable)
and passed by Parliament.
Contd..

9. Delegated legislation: Requires legislative documents which are made by individuals acting
under the authority of the Parliament to fill in the specifics and to set out exactly how the acts
will operate.
Sources of legislation: They can be found in print as well as in online.
Public General Acts & Measures
Halsbury’s Statutes
Freely available online: There are various websites where one can access the selected
legislations for free:
Legislation.gov.uk (http://www.legislation.gov.uk)
British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) (http://www.bailii.org/)

10. 2. Secondary Sources
Secondary sources of law are considered as the background resources.
They illustrate, describe and they evaluate and analyze.
They comprise of the encyclopedias, amendments to the law, treatises,
and restatements.
Secondary sources, includes Encyclopedias, Law Journals, and Treatises,
and are a great place to begin your legal research.

11. Print Search the SOAS library catalogue (http://lib.soas.ac.uk)
Alternatively, search InforM25 (http://www.inform25.ac.uk/Link/)
Online via SOAS databases Use the A-Z Electronic Journals Database
The main databases containing Legal Journals are:
Westlaw UK
Lexis Library
Hein Online
Contd..
Law journals can be found in:
Law
Journals

12. Textbooks are among the best places to start researching a legal subject.
Textbooks can be found In Print
InforM25 (http://www.inform25.ac.uk/Link/) can be used for getting material available in
London.
COPAC (http://copac.ac.uk/) can be used for getting material available in research
libraries within the UK.
Legal Encyclopedias: Encyclopedias are a great starting point for law study, as it provides
key points, cases and legislation.
England and Wales Laws of Halsbury: This provides England and Wales 'only detailed
narrative statement of law.
Contd..
Textbooks

13. Parliamentary and Non-Parliamentary publications: It is necessary to understand the context
of why a piece of legislation has come into effect or to understand debates about a particular
field of law.
Debates of Parliament: The proceedings and discusses that take place in the House of
Commons and House of Lords are published in Hansard – an official list.
House of Commons and House of Lords Papers: Reports, transcripts and committee
statistics are included. They have been made available from Parliament UK
(http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/)
Non-Parliamentary Publications: These include reports and briefing papers from departments
and agencies such as Health Department, Defense Ministry, and Justice Ministry etc.
(http://www.direct.gov.uk/)

14. A typical and often crucial challenge for a new researcher is to get a
perspective on how these sources can be applied to a particular
subject and how they can be related to one another.
A researcher may usually need to check several sources, and use
specific techniques for each resource type.
A specific problem can require a researcher to review relevant
materials at any or all federal, state or local level to further intensify
the issue.
Conclusion

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