Legal Encyclopedias

Definition

Legal encyclopedias are comprehensive collections of legal information that provide summaries and explanations of various areas of law, often organized alphabetically. They serve as valuable secondary sources for legal research, helping users understand legal principles and concepts while guiding them to primary sources and other relevant materials.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Legal encyclopedias typically cover a wide range of topics, making them useful for initial research on unfamiliar legal issues.
2. They often provide citations to primary sources, such as statutes or case law, allowing researchers to quickly locate authoritative texts.
3. Most legal encyclopedias are jurisdiction-specific, meaning they focus on the laws applicable to a particular state or federal system.
4. Many legal encyclopedias are updated regularly to reflect changes in the law, ensuring that users have access to current information.
5. They are considered secondary sources because they summarize and interpret the law rather than establishing new legal principles.

Review Questions

• How can legal encyclopedias assist in developing effective legal research strategies?
  • Legal encyclopedias help shape effective legal research strategies by providing foundational knowledge about various areas of law. They offer summaries that outline key concepts and terms, allowing researchers to narrow down their topics and focus their search on specific cases or statutes. This initial understanding can streamline the research process, making it easier to identify relevant primary sources later on.
• What criteria should be used to evaluate the authority and reliability of a legal encyclopedia?
  • To evaluate the authority and reliability of a legal encyclopedia, one should consider factors such as the qualifications of the authors or contributors, the reputation of the publishing organization, and the frequency of updates to the content. Additionally, examining whether the encyclopedia provides citations to credible primary sources can indicate its reliability as a resource for legal research. Overall, a well-regarded legal encyclopedia should have clear editorial standards and be widely recognized within the legal community.
• Assess how the use of legal encyclopedias can facilitate finding foreign legal materials during research.
  • Using legal encyclopedias can significantly ease the process of finding foreign legal materials by providing context about international law concepts and foreign legal systems. Many encyclopedias include sections dedicated to comparative law or discuss how certain principles apply across different jurisdictions. By familiarizing researchers with terminology and key areas of foreign law, these resources enable more targeted searches in specialized databases or international legal texts, ultimately leading to a more efficient gathering of relevant foreign materials.

Related terms

Secondary Sources: Legal materials that analyze, interpret, or summarize primary law, such as statutes or case law, helping researchers understand the context and application of legal principles.

Case Law: Law established by the outcome of former court cases, which serves as a primary source for legal research and understanding how laws are applied in specific situations.

Legal Treatises: In-depth written works on specific areas of law that provide detailed analysis, commentary, and citations to relevant case law and statutes.