1 / 0

Introduction to Legal Research

Introduction to Legal Research. May 2014 Session. University of Sydney Herbert Smith Freehills Law Library. Patrick O'Mara – LPAB Librarian. Agenda. 11am to 11.55am Introductory Lecture 12pm to 12.55pm Practical Online Session Group 1 (beginners)

hamish
Download Presentation

Introduction to Legal Research

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Introduction to Legal Research

    May 2014 Session University of Sydney Herbert Smith Freehills Law Library Patrick O'Mara – LPAB Librarian
  2. Agenda 11am to 11.55am Introductory Lecture 12pm to 12.55pm Practical Online Session Group 1 (beginners) 1pm to 1.55pm Practical Online Session Group 2 (beginners) 2pm to 2.55pm Practical Online Session Group 3 (intermediate and advanced)
  3. Introductory Lecture: 11am-11.55am Types of legal material - and what they are good for? Interpreting a case citation Accessing legal abbreviations Where to find cases Where to find legislation Where to find secondary sources How to get the best out of the WWW
  4. Practical online sessions: 12noon-3pm Finding Australian & UK cases Full text Additional information about cases Key databases for researching case law
  5. More Classes!
  6. Starting point for Legal Research Law Library home page: http://sydney.edu.au/library/libraries/law
  7. 1. Types of Legal Material
  8. 2. Interpreting a case citation Swain v Waverley Municipal Council [2005] HCA 4 (2005) 220 CLR 517
  9. Interpreting a case citation Merritt v Merritt [1970] 2 All ER 760 Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 HL Cas 61 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 at 682 Ayles v The Queen [2008] HCA 6
  10. Case citations: the parties Merritt v Merritt[1970] 2 All ER 760 Grey v Pearson(1857) 6 HL Cas 61 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 at 682 Ayles v The Queen[2008] HCA 6
  11. Case citations: year of the judgement Merritt v Merritt [1970] 2 All ER 760 Grey v Pearson(1857) 6 HL Cas 61 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 at 682 Ayles v The Queen[2008] HCA 6
  12. Case citations: report details Merritt v Merritt[1970] 2 All ER 760 Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 HL Cas 61 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 at 682 Ayles v The Queen [2008] HCA 6
  13. Case citations: square and round brackets Merritt v Merritt[1970] 2 All ER 760 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681
  14. Case citations: pinpoint citations Merritt v Merritt [1970] 2 All ER 760 Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 HL Cas 61 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 at 682 Ayles v The Queen [2008] HCA 6
  15. Case citations: medium neutral citations Merritt v Merritt [1970] 2 All ER 760 Grey v Pearson (1857) 6 HL Cas 61 R v Young (1999) 46 NSWLR 681 at 682 Ayles v The Queen[2008] HCA 6
  16. 3. Accessing Legal Abbreviations Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations Law report, Journal and Court abbreviations Free web site: http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk/ Try also Laying Down the Law / Cooke et al. Good list in Appendix 4 CaseBase Online database in the ‘Help’ section
  17. 4. Where to find cases? All via Law Library homepage Practice in hands-on session this afternoon
  18. 5. Where to find legislation? Acts Interpretation Act 1901(Cth) Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) AustLII covers all Australian jurisdictions Go to: http://www.austlii.edu.au/ or: Law Library homepage > Law Databases > Legislation > AustLII
  19. 6. Secondary Sources Best place to look for secondary sources: Library catalogue: http://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/ Try AGIS for journal articles on a topic
  20. Making the most of the Web How big is the internet?
  21. Checklist for choosing good websites Authority - is it a reliable source? Objectivity - what motivation might the author have for writing it? Purpose - what is the intended audience/use? Currency - how up to date is it? Accuracy - can you verify the information in another source?
  22. Question? Can you safely Google and Wikipedia your way through life???
  23. Answer Probably not. Definitely not if you are a lawyer.
  24. Checklist for choosing good websites Authority - is it a reliable source? Objectivity - what motivation might the author have for writing it? Purpose - what is the intended audience/use? Currency - how up to date is it? Accuracy - can you verify the information in another source?
More Related