Now that you've had the formal training, I hope you are putting it into practise!
If you do get stuck, remember the Law Subject guide includes Research Strategies to help you learn. in particular, do refer to the LAWS398 guides, and the Database guides from the publishers themselves.
How about writing and citing? The Library holds a number of texts to help you write like a lawyer, and the New Zealand Law Style Guide 3rd ed will help you cite like a lawyer!
Showing posts with label Legal Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legal Research. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Thursday, April 12, 2018
The Art of Selecting Cases to Cite
By Jamie Baker, Associate Director of the Law Library at Texas Tech University School of Law.
A question that comes up pretty often from law students in legal writing classes is, “how do I know which cases to cite?”
This is a good question and one that really depends on the cases that are found during the research process. An article by Douglas K. Norman titled “The Art of Selecting Cases to Cite” in 63 Tex. B. J. 340 (Apr. 2000) does a wonderful job of discussing how to select cases to cite.
From the article:
“Most legal writers seem to have developed an instinct for which cases to pick and which to discard. Moreover, the considerations that the writer consciously or subconsciously brings to bear on which cases to include in legal citation are more complicated than merely citing to the most recent case from the highest court. These considerations probably begin with an informal categorization of all the cases found in the process of researching a given issue.”
The article goes on to discuss categorizing cases. “The cases supporting a given proposition of law might roughly be categorized as follows:
Seminal Case–This is generally the first case from the highest court to have decided the issue and stated the proposition of law in question. If the proposition was itself a reversal or revision of earlier authority, the seminal case is the reversing or revising case. As the first case to have stated the proposition in question, the seminal case has generally gone into some depth in analyzing the issue and the court’s rationale in a manner that might not be repeated in later cases.
Parroting Cases–With a common proposition of law, numerous cases will have simply parroted the language of the seminal case, adding little or nothing to the analysis.
Bolstering Cases–In addition to parroting seminal authority, the bolstering case adds new reasoning and analysis to support the underlying proposition of law.
Reformulation Cases–These cases take the proposition of the seminal case and either restate it in different terms or refine the analysis in some way that may be more or less helpful to the reader. When, for example, the seminal case was written in the legalistic jargon of the past, the reformulation case may delete the jargon and restate the proposition in plain English.
Pseudo-Seminal Case–When the seminal case has been forgotten or lost in the chain of citation, a more recent case will often emerge as the one most courts presently cite as the oldest or most reliable case to support the given proposition. This case effectively takes the place of the lost seminal case.
Companion Cases–As I use the term here, companion cases (not to be confused with the more technical use of this term) are parroting cases that have over time been so consistently cited together with the seminal (or pseudo-seminal) authority that they achieve a certain perceived legitimacy and it would now seem awkward to break the habit of citing the companion case together with the seminal authority.
Parallel Cases–Occasionally, separate lines of authority for the same proposition develop without any common source; or, perhaps more likely, the original source or seminal case is buried so far back in the chain of citation that it has been all but forgotten. This then leads to two or more lines of cases standing for the same proposition, with different courts typically preferring one or the other of the parallel lines of authority.
Storehouse Cases–It sometimes happens that, when there are multiple parallel cases with no clear seminal or pseudo-seminal case to which they all refer, somewhere down the road a particular case will attempt to collect or “storehouse” all of the parallel lines. If this storehouse case is reliable, it is a prime candidate to be cited from then on as pseudo-seminal authority.
Application Cases–Some cases that have only marginal value as support for an abstract proposition of law, have great value in their application of the proposition to facts similar or analogous to the facts of your own case.”
After categorizing cases, it is time to select the cases to cite. The article offers guidelines for selection:
Jamie Baker "The art of selecting cases to cite" (3 April 2018) <https://texastechlawlibrary.com/2018/04/03/the-art-of-selecting-cases-to-cite/>
A question that comes up pretty often from law students in legal writing classes is, “how do I know which cases to cite?”
This is a good question and one that really depends on the cases that are found during the research process. An article by Douglas K. Norman titled “The Art of Selecting Cases to Cite” in 63 Tex. B. J. 340 (Apr. 2000) does a wonderful job of discussing how to select cases to cite.
From the article:
“Most legal writers seem to have developed an instinct for which cases to pick and which to discard. Moreover, the considerations that the writer consciously or subconsciously brings to bear on which cases to include in legal citation are more complicated than merely citing to the most recent case from the highest court. These considerations probably begin with an informal categorization of all the cases found in the process of researching a given issue.”
The article goes on to discuss categorizing cases. “The cases supporting a given proposition of law might roughly be categorized as follows:
Seminal Case–This is generally the first case from the highest court to have decided the issue and stated the proposition of law in question. If the proposition was itself a reversal or revision of earlier authority, the seminal case is the reversing or revising case. As the first case to have stated the proposition in question, the seminal case has generally gone into some depth in analyzing the issue and the court’s rationale in a manner that might not be repeated in later cases.
Parroting Cases–With a common proposition of law, numerous cases will have simply parroted the language of the seminal case, adding little or nothing to the analysis.
Bolstering Cases–In addition to parroting seminal authority, the bolstering case adds new reasoning and analysis to support the underlying proposition of law.
Reformulation Cases–These cases take the proposition of the seminal case and either restate it in different terms or refine the analysis in some way that may be more or less helpful to the reader. When, for example, the seminal case was written in the legalistic jargon of the past, the reformulation case may delete the jargon and restate the proposition in plain English.
Pseudo-Seminal Case–When the seminal case has been forgotten or lost in the chain of citation, a more recent case will often emerge as the one most courts presently cite as the oldest or most reliable case to support the given proposition. This case effectively takes the place of the lost seminal case.
Companion Cases–As I use the term here, companion cases (not to be confused with the more technical use of this term) are parroting cases that have over time been so consistently cited together with the seminal (or pseudo-seminal) authority that they achieve a certain perceived legitimacy and it would now seem awkward to break the habit of citing the companion case together with the seminal authority.
Parallel Cases–Occasionally, separate lines of authority for the same proposition develop without any common source; or, perhaps more likely, the original source or seminal case is buried so far back in the chain of citation that it has been all but forgotten. This then leads to two or more lines of cases standing for the same proposition, with different courts typically preferring one or the other of the parallel lines of authority.
Storehouse Cases–It sometimes happens that, when there are multiple parallel cases with no clear seminal or pseudo-seminal case to which they all refer, somewhere down the road a particular case will attempt to collect or “storehouse” all of the parallel lines. If this storehouse case is reliable, it is a prime candidate to be cited from then on as pseudo-seminal authority.
Application Cases–Some cases that have only marginal value as support for an abstract proposition of law, have great value in their application of the proposition to facts similar or analogous to the facts of your own case.”
After categorizing cases, it is time to select the cases to cite. The article offers guidelines for selection:
- Provide Both Seminal and Recent Authority
- Generally Omit Parrots
- Use Vertical Strings To Show Continuity Within a Court
- Use Horizontal Strings To Show Continuity among Courts
- Reconcile Parallel Lines of Authority
- Use Bolstering and Reformulation Cases to Strengthen and Better Explain
- Use Application Cases For Similarity and Analogy
Jamie Baker "The art of selecting cases to cite" (3 April 2018) <https://texastechlawlibrary.com/2018/04/03/the-art-of-selecting-cases-to-cite/>
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
The epistemology of legal research
Today at the student reps meeting, a discussion arose about learning about research and writing.
I think this blog post will be very helpful and interesting. I will let it speak for itself!
It's called "Can Legal Research Be Taught?"
I think this blog post will be very helpful and interesting. I will let it speak for itself!
It's called "Can Legal Research Be Taught?"
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
The Interweb: Remembered forever or forgotten in seconds?
This very interesting and thorough article by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker (Annals of Technology) is mainly about the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine.
It describes the importance of being about to retrieve data from the internet, and gives some worrying examples of people trying to retract important information.
It's also about link rot, reference rot, and how these problems plague the world of legal research. There are a couple of enterprises under-way ( e.g. Perma.cc) to make link rot a thing of the past, which you might want to investigate before you cite webpages in your assignments.
I recommend you give it a read.
That reference?
Jill Lepore "The Cobweb: Can the internet be archived?" (27 January 2014) The New Yorkerhttp://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/26/cobweb;
It describes the importance of being about to retrieve data from the internet, and gives some worrying examples of people trying to retract important information.
It's also about link rot, reference rot, and how these problems plague the world of legal research. There are a couple of enterprises under-way ( e.g. Perma.cc) to make link rot a thing of the past, which you might want to investigate before you cite webpages in your assignments.
I recommend you give it a read.
That reference?
Jill Lepore "The Cobweb: Can the internet be archived?" (27 January 2014) The New Yorker
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Calling all Company Law students
Your valued opinion is required!
As promised, I've set up a survey relating to the legal research lecture, from the 27th March.
I'm interested in your feedback, whether you did the assignment or not.
Please log into Blackboard to access the survey.
Your responses are completely anonymous.
Many thanks, your Librarian.
As promised, I've set up a survey relating to the legal research lecture, from the 27th March.
I'm interested in your feedback, whether you did the assignment or not.
Please log into Blackboard to access the survey.
Your responses are completely anonymous.
Many thanks, your Librarian.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Merry Christmas
Christmas holidays are almost here, so this is the last post for the year.
Things to look forward to in the New Year are:
Happy holidays.
See you next year .
Best wishes, the Law Librarian.
Things to look forward to in the New Year are:
- revamped subject guide - cosmetic changes mostly
- WestlawNZ - and the phasing out of the Brookers platform
- more 'how to' guides and mindmaps to help your immediate research needs
Happy holidays.
See you next year .
Best wishes, the Law Librarian.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Online Help for online tools
The legal database vendors CCH (Intelliconnect), Thomson Reuters (WestlawNZ) and LexisNexisNZ are making instructional videos. Lots of videos. You can quickly link to them via our Law Subject Guide Strategies tab. They're short, and specific. They usually show you the fastest way to find things, but certainly not all the ways to find things. The suites of videos are being constantly updated too.
Here's a wee taster.
Basic Search : CCH
How to locate a case by name: LexisNexisNZ
Find legislation by browsing: WestlawNZ
Of course, if you prefer to get help from humans, just ask at the desk, or email me. My contact details are on the Law Subject Guide.
Here's a wee taster.
Basic Search : CCH
How to locate a case by name: LexisNexisNZ
Find legislation by browsing: WestlawNZ
Of course, if you prefer to get help from humans, just ask at the desk, or email me. My contact details are on the Law Subject Guide.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Busy Beavers Visualise Videos
While students and staff are heads-down sitting or marking exams, Carolyn and I have been busy making videos.
We hope to eventually create a suite of short videos to help you navigate through the maze of legal research, and share some of our hard-earned tips and tricks along the way.
For your immediate viewing pleasure, we have a Virtual Tour, and How to Find NZ Statutes in the Law Library, and How to Find Cases on a Statute. The latter 2 are on the Law Subject Guide Strategies page, along with a few other 'goodies' to aid your legal research.
The world of videos is a new foray for us, so every kind of feedback is very welcome!
We hope to eventually create a suite of short videos to help you navigate through the maze of legal research, and share some of our hard-earned tips and tricks along the way.
For your immediate viewing pleasure, we have a Virtual Tour, and How to Find NZ Statutes in the Law Library, and How to Find Cases on a Statute. The latter 2 are on the Law Subject Guide Strategies page, along with a few other 'goodies' to aid your legal research.
The world of videos is a new foray for us, so every kind of feedback is very welcome!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
How's your research and writing going?
Here are some pointers:
Ask for help at the Law Library desk ("office hours" only).
Use the Law Subject Guide as a portal for legal research.
Contact Kate or Carolyn for indepth assistance. We can help with search strategies, literature reviews, Endnote, database searching, primary sources, and more!
Good luck!
Ask for help at the Law Library desk ("office hours" only).
Use the Law Subject Guide as a portal for legal research.
Contact Kate or Carolyn for indepth assistance. We can help with search strategies, literature reviews, Endnote, database searching, primary sources, and more!
Good luck!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Congratulations!
To everyone who attended the Student Professional Development event last Monday, congratulations! You took part in very sucessful event (if I may say so myself!).I was very impressed with the number of attendees.
We hope you got something positive out of it.
In a couple of weeks I'll send out a survey, so you can tell us what you really thought, and can be instrumental in shaping another event, should the signs point to go!
If you're bursting with feedback, please come and see me.....cheers
We hope you got something positive out of it.
In a couple of weeks I'll send out a survey, so you can tell us what you really thought, and can be instrumental in shaping another event, should the signs point to go!
If you're bursting with feedback, please come and see me.....cheers
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Watch this space!
Dear Students
The Law Library, and Faculty of Law have developed a professional development event just for you, scheduled for mid March this year. Its focus is on legal research skills and expectations in the work place. We have some great speakers lined up, along with representatives from the 3 major legal database companies.
Stayed tuned for information as it comes to hand.
The Law Library, and Faculty of Law have developed a professional development event just for you, scheduled for mid March this year. Its focus is on legal research skills and expectations in the work place. We have some great speakers lined up, along with representatives from the 3 major legal database companies.
Stayed tuned for information as it comes to hand.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
New online resources for law students and academics
Google scholar now has a radio button option to search law journals and American cases. It appears the material is coming from Hein Online.
Early English Laws to quote from their website "is a project to publish online and in print new editions and translations of all English legal codes, edicts, and treatises produced up to the time of Magna Carta 1215" and "Early English Laws will provide not only the now standard editions of English legal texts by Felix Liebermann and William Stubbs, but also new editions, translations, and commentary for over 150 individual texts. These texts range chronologically from Æthelberht of Kent’s code (c. 600) to the issuance of Magna Carta in 1215, and include all non-narrative and non-administrative legal records. Some of them have never been edited."
Early English Laws to quote from their website "is a project to publish online and in print new editions and translations of all English legal codes, edicts, and treatises produced up to the time of Magna Carta 1215" and "Early English Laws will provide not only the now standard editions of English legal texts by Felix Liebermann and William Stubbs, but also new editions, translations, and commentary for over 150 individual texts. These texts range chronologically from Æthelberht of Kent’s code (c. 600) to the issuance of Magna Carta in 1215, and include all non-narrative and non-administrative legal records. Some of them have never been edited."
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