Part 4 - Secondary
Sources
Start
with your text books, course materials and reading lists.
Then look for more books and journal articles. This
process is very much the same as it is for your non-law
subjects, so we will just look at the points where Law
is different.
Classification
and arrangement of materials
The Law Library is located on levels 8 and 9 of the
main Library building. The Law Library uses the Moys
classification scheme.
Primary
materials are mainly held on level 9. New and reprinted
legislation from New South Wales and the Commonwealth
is held in Law Reserve on level 8. New and unbound law
reports are also held on level 8.
Secondary
materials are held on level 8, except those within the
L/KR-L/KZ sequence, and those that are held in the Digest
Area.
The
layout of the Law Library can be seen from the maps
for Level
8 and Level
9.
Law
journals
There are a few law journals, such as the Torts Law
Journal, that are on one area of law. Most journals,
however, are generalist publications covering many areas
of law. It is, therefore, necessary to use periodical
indexes to find journal articles on a subject; you cannot
simply use the catalogue to find journals on the subject.
Starting
from the
Law Library home page, click on Legal Databases,
then on Journal articles. Click on the name of
each database to see a brief description of it.
Once
you have decided which database you wish to search,
click on Sirius
and log on using your student number and Unipass. You
can then either search for the database by name in the
Resource Name Keyword text box, or browse the
legal databases by selecting Law from the Select
Subject Area drop-down list.
Case
notes
Case notes are short journal articles about a case -
they are extremely useful in understanding case law.
You find them by using the names of the parties as search
terms. For example, if we go into AGIS and search for
hedley byrne and heller, we find over 100 articles.
Hedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners Ltd (1964)
AC 465 is listed in the CASE field of most of them.
Look
carefully at the search we did.
- We
typed hedley byrne and heller,
- This
is a Boolean search for the phrase hedley byrne
AND the word heller.
We
did not type hedley byrne v heller.
That search would look for the phrase hedley byrne
v heller. It would fail to find many articles because
the full name is written as hedley byrne and co.
ltd.
We
cannot type the full company name for two reasons:
-
it varies, Hedley Byrne and CO Ltd., Hedley Byrne
& CO Ltd., or simply Hedley Byrne, and,
-
the computer would treat the "and" as a
Boolean operator not as a search term.
Exercise
Select the AGIS Plus Text database once you have
logged on to Sirius and selected Law from the Select
Subject Area drop-down list.
Find case notes on these cases:
Bropho v Western Australia (1990) 171 CLR 1
Home Office v Dorset Yacht Co. Ltd (1970) AC 1004
K. & S. Lake City Freighters Pty Ltd v Gordon &
Gotch Ltd (1985) 60 ALR 509
Check
your results here!
Law
Library Hompage
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UNSW Library 2003 Disclaimer
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