1 / 18

Rightslink: Research Tips: Domestic and International Law

Rightslink: Research Tips: Domestic and International Law. Dana Neacsu, Fall 2007. 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

weston
Download Presentation

Rightslink: Research Tips: Domestic and International Law

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. Rightslink: Research Tips: Domestic and International Law Dana Neacsu, Fall 2007

  2. 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

  3. Use the following catalogs for the following specific tasks: the Diamond Law Library’s 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. II. Finding Sources:Library Catalogs

  4. Finding Sources:Indexes to Legal Periodicals Use Specialized Periodical Indexes • Wilson’s 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.

  5. 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/

  6. 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

  7. Top 10 Source Gathering Sources (III) 1. Library Research Sources CLS Research Guides: http://www.law.columbia.edu/library/Research_Guides NYU: Globalex http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/

  8. 3. Identifying Unknown Abbreviations • Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations • Print – Reference Office drawer • Lexis • Find a source = “Bieber’s” • The Bluebook • Print – The Reserve Area

  9. 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

  10. Domestic Law Research. Finding Aid Tools The Main Finding Aid Tools are: • Library Catalogs – for treatises, practitioner’s sources (Am.Jur), Restatements, Encyclopedias, etc. • Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP) for law review articles

  11. 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/

  12. 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

  13. 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)

  14. 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

  15. 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/

  16. Treaties and Treaty Research UN Treaties and Other Documents • Is the US party to CEDAW? • What is CEDAW (Bieber’s) (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?

  17. 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)

  18. IV. Library Hours for Fall 2007 • Ref office hours: • M-Th: 10-8 • F: 10-5 • Sat.: 1-6 • Sun: 1-9

More Related