Part 2 - Sources of Law

Primary sources of law are statute law and case law. These are the law.

Secondary sources are books and journal articles about the law. We strongly recommend that you start with secondary sources for three reasons:

1. They are easier to find. The tools that you will use - the Library Resources Database (the catalogue) and the journal indexes should already be familiar to you,
2. They are easier to read. Cases can be very difficult. Statute law has a language of its own; whole books - many of them - are written on how to interpret statutes,
3. They will often lead you to the relevant statutes and the leading cases. Good researchers never reinvent the wheel - if someone has done this research for you, make use of it.

Continue to Part 3 - Getting Started

Law Library Hompage

© UNSW Library 2003 Disclaimer
Comments/Feedback