The Legal Information Landscape aims to introduce you to the most popular information sources & help you to see how each might be useful in the course of academic studies or legal practice. Click on text boxes to find out more. Wherever you are in the landscape clicking on the home button will always take you back the beginning. Click here to start.

Statue of Justice, Old Bailey from Ronnie Macdonald's photostream

Conference Papers

Academics present new ideas & research at Conferences.

Papers are presented & usually written up & Published as ‘Proceedings’.

There are opportunities fordebates & discussions to progress new ideas too.

Refer to these if your topic of interest is very new & little has been written about it in books & journals.

If you want to find conference papers, Zetoc & the Social Science Citation Index in Web of Science are two key databases.

Crowded Math Course by thowi, Flickr

Scholarly Journal Articles

Use these when you know that you want very specific, academic information. They are published regularly,

usually monthly or quarterly.

They may be in printedor electronic format.

If you are an undergraduate,you are unlikely to browse scholarly journals.

They contain articles, written by academics.The sources used to writethe articles are includedat the end in a ReferenceList or Bibliography.

You can use tools called databasesto help you search the contentsof these & other types of journal.

Articles are peer reviewed, i.e. the quality of thearticle has been reviewed by an editorial board.

You can find scholarly articles in any subject area by searching Heinonline, Lexis , WestlawGoogle Scholar

Practitioner Journals

Use these journals to give a professional view point to your work.They contain information aimed atpeople working in a particular trade or profession.

Articles vary in length, but are often fairly short & readable.

They include product reviews,industry news, exhibition &competition adverts. Jobadverts are also featured.

Articles are not peer reviewed, butare usually written by people with a sound knowledge of the industry.You might want to regularly

browse some trade journals relating to your industry. Find them in the library.

They may be printedor electronic.

You can search their contents by using tools called databases.

They are published regularly, usuallyweekly or monthly.

Lexis , Westlaw & Business Source Complete are good sources of articles published in legal practitioner journals.

Newspapers

As well as providing informationon current affairs, newspapers areuseful sources of public opinion &include reviews.They can be useful for historical research, providing primary evidencefrom the period in which they werepublished.

Newspapers may be localor national, tabloid or broadsheet, they may also be specialist, e.g. The Stage.

Tabloids & broadsheets are writtenfor different audiences. Comparenews stories from tabloids, or ‘redtops’, such as the Sun & the Mirrorwith ‘broadsheets’ such as the Times & the Guardian.

Find & read full text newspaper articles from all over the world using Nexis UK database.

Times Digital Archive &19th Century British Library

Newspapers are two historicalnews databases. You might also look at facsimiles of recent tabloids at Ukpressonline.

Find UK broadsheets which have regular law sections which can be read free of charge using the News section of Lexis.

Textbooks

They present well established ideas& theories & usually cover abroad topic area in considerable detail.

Use these when you want an introductionto a topic area. You are unlikely to read a book from cover to cover. Use the contents page & index to help you locate what you want to find out about.

Textbooks are reviewed by an editorialboard so you can trust that the contentis reliable & accurate.

The book may be edited &divided into chapters which arewritten by different authorsbut relate to the main theme.

Format may be printed or electronic.

Use your reading lists to find booksrecommended by your lecturer. Find out what books are available by

searching the Discovery Service or COPAC .

You may find some online ‘e-books’, using Ebrary, Dawsonera & MyiLibrary.

Textbooks

Contact Learning Support Tutors or ASK for help to develop active reading skills.

Beauty of Reading from Law8r photostream

Reference Sources

Use these to find quick facts.They are useful to consult at the planning stage of your research & can provide you with keywords to help you search the web or library catalogues & databases effectively.

The Library has a Law. Reference Collection in which you will find things like encyclopaedias, dictionaries, directories & yearbooks.

Resources may be printed or electronic

For in depth research use Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary from the Law Reference Collection or the Index of Legal Terms in Westlaw. Use Halsbury’s Laws of England& from the Law Reference Collection or in Lexis .

Initially do look for the range of legal dictionaries & books on legal skills available in print for loan in the library. We also have e-versions to use for quick reference online .

For puzzling abbreviations use the Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations .

Audio-Visual Information

Often this type of material sparks an initialinterest in a subject which students later research in depth. It can also be used it to illustrate particular points within presentations.

This can include television & radio broadcasts on legal issues.It might also be images, video clips, or podcasts from legal websites.

Images may be from printed or electronic sources.

The library has some good quality streamed images & videos for educational use. You will find TV & radio programmes in Box of Broadcasts. For images try the JISC Media Hub. You could also expand your mind with Learnmore.

Images, just like other information sources, will be subject to copyright even if they are available on the web. Something old, Something new from John Watson’s photostream

Websites

Use the web to find quick facts,current information, informationabout companies & organisations& information from the government.

This page looks at the internet in general, not as a mediumfor accessing the Library’s online scholarly books & journals.

Always evaluate the informationthat you find on the web.Visit the Internet Detective for further information.

Use more than one search engine.Use the advanced search options to find what you need more quickly & easily.Search by domain name, if appropriate, e.g.:.ac.uk UK academic sites.gov.uk UK government.org.uk UK non profit making organisations.co.uk UK companies

Use Internet Gateways like Infolaw, Lawbore, or Lawlinks to find information that has already been evaluated.

Find good quality websitesusing the Intute gateway.

Personal Communications

You may use these to add a personal,research element to your work.

They could be letters, emails or they could be opinions gatheredfrom a survey or interview.

You should always ask permissionprior to including personal detailsin your work. Contributors may prefer to remain anonymous.

If you are considering this type of researchyou need to consider Research ethics.Consult your supervisor early in the proposal process.

They could be letters, emails or they could be opinions gatheredfrom a survey or interview.

You should always ask permissionprior to including personal detailsin your work. Contributors may prefer to remain anonymous.

Social Media

Useful for finding out whatothers are thinking.

These include blogs, & tools for sharing photos & informationamongst friends & groups.

Use with caution in your research.How reliable is the information?People’s thoughts & feelings can change too!

Take a look at some popular law blogs to identify what is available; contribute to the pool of information on Wikipedia; find your friends (& the University Library) on Facebook; share photos on Flickr.

Books

Format may be printed or electronic.

Sometimes a number of academics contributepapers to a collection relating to the main theme.

When researching in depth you will need to go beyond textbooks.

Single themed books sometimes called monographs are authored by academics who have researched the subject thoroughly.These can be really useful as starting points for your own research & will point towards further reading.

The largest collection of legal monographs can be found In the Oxford Scholarship Online collection. However you will find other individual via the Discovery Service either in print on the shelves orIn Ebrary, Dawsonera & MyiLibrary.

Read actively, make notes &remember to note relevant referencing information.

UK Legislation

The Union Flag 'Union Jack' UK Flag 326 from Ree Saunders photostream

Acts & Statutory Instruments are Primary law sources referred to collectively as legislation.

BAILII & legislation.gov.uk are not as reliable for current legislation as they are still at varying stages of revision. The latter however helpfully provides a pdf of the original act so is useful for historic law.

Acts are Primary legislation passed by Parliament. Statutory Instruments are Secondary legislation.

Every new piece of legislation impacts on previous legislation in the same area, Therefore you need to be absolutely clear whether you are looking at law as passed (historic law) or law as now enforced (current law) or law under discussion or scheduled for amendment (proposed law).

Lexis, & Westlaw are good sources for current legislation as they incorporate changes in law as soon as possible & highlight if there are amendments pending. The latter also has a feature which can roll bank amendments but this stops at 1992.

EU Legislation

European Union from motiqua’s photostream

Westlaw has a specific area dedicated to EU Law which is easy to use if you are familiar with the database. Lexis has a specific source search for EU materials which is useful for business topics.

To access the official sources of EU law as passed it is useful to be able to use a focussed advanced Google search on .Eur-Lex . It is easier to view treaties on Europa .

Secondary European Law covers Regulations passed by the Commission, Council & Parliament & Directives which need to be brought into force internally by individual member states.

Some Secondary European Law is of more local/limited relevance as it also covers EU agreements with non members & agreements between member states, some non-binding resolutions & conventions.

Primary European Law only covers the Treaties which provide the Framework for European co-operation.

Reports

009 Feltron report from jakeprzespo’s photostream

They can be written by consultants, companies,charities, lobbyists & are likely to reflect the Author or sponsors view of matters.

Government reports fall into the category of Official Publications.

They are likely to include a lot of facts, figures& evidence to support their conclusions.These are sources where you need to exercise your skills in evaluation & critical thinking.

Reports come in all shapes & forms.They can be about finance, research,policy, proposals or a single incident, topic or controversy. They often are part of a series or have specific reference number.

Find reports on organisation websites or track them from references in yourother reading. You often find links to themin news websites.

Official Publications

Houses of Parliament from Dave Stokes photostream

This term is used loosely to cover publications & reports issued by national governments, ministers, government departments, executive agencies, local government & international & inter-governmental bodies.Here we concentrate on UK Publications.

There are official publications on everything from the annual spending review through to numbers in prison. They are very much of their time reflecting the policy of the government of the day & the concerns of their critics.

Traditionally many government departments had their own websites & published their own research reports & annual statistical surveys.

Recently all government departments have been subsumed into one website. This gives priority to giving simple answers to common questions so it can occasionally be difficult to track down more in depth material. You can find official publications online

at Gov.UK website. It is also worth looking at the Office of National Statistics. Material from previous administrations can be found at the National Archive.

Learn use a focussed advanced Google search to dig beneath the surface of websites.

Hansard

Historic Plaque (Green) from LEOL30's photostream

Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings of the House of Commons.

Pepper v Hart [1992] UKHL 3, ruled that in some circumstances if primary legislation is ambiguous courts can use statements in both Houses to aid interpretation.

Daily Debates are published on the Parliament website the next working day by 6 a.m.

Find Hansard online from 1988 for the Commons & 1995 for the Lords.

Help with referencing Hansard is available in Referencing@Portsmouth.

Hansard has gained specific legal weight because Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart [1992] UKHL 3.

Learn to use focussed advanced searches in Google to dig beneath the surface of websites.

CommentaryCentre Court Commentary Box from gorgeoux's photostream

Legal commentaries are usually found in established updated services such as Chitty on Contract.In print they are often referred to generically as “loose-leaf services” as this was the traditional method of updating.Commentaries are academically

authoritative but whilst they are occasionally referred to in court they are reference not legal source.

Commentaries offer explanations & interpretations of primary legal sources. They tend to be restricted to specific areas of law & are much more detailed than a standard textbook.

Find commentaries in the Books section of Westlaw, under analysis in Lexis, you will find family law commentary in Jordan & historic commentary for English & American law in Heinonline.

Commentaries refer to primary sources you might wish to consult & in some cases are practically targeted at a specific groups of users e.g. Magistrates, Police Officers.

International Treaties/Conventions

Signing the Arms Trade Treaty from Controlarms photostream

Treaties & Conventions are agreements between countries or international organisations underInternational law.

For a glossary of terms & concepts see United Nations Treaty Reference Guide.

Check for Treaties in the UN TreatyCollection, World Trade Organisation, Council of Europe or UK Treaties Online.

It is important to understand treaties do not 'override' a States existing Civil/Criminal Codes/Laws except where measures are 'built in' to a particular treaty or convention. In such cases there would also be primary/secondary legislation adopted nationally, to make any necessary changes fitting the terms of a treaty or convention effecting Civil/Criminal laws.

Where particular treaties/conventions are relevant to matters before a Court, the Court would take them into account in making a ruling.

Parliamentary Papers

Parliament at Dusk from Berto Garcia's photostream

This category covers Papers of both the House of Commons & the House of Lords, Select Committees & Command Papers .

Sessional Papers (Bound Set) contain Bills, Reports of Committees (divided by House) & Accounts. They are referred to by Session & appropriate running number or volume number.

To find recent Parliamentary Papers use a focussed advanced Google search on the Parliament website.For older material use our historic House of Commons Papers database which covers 1688-2008.

Command Papers originate outside of Parliament but are submitted by command of Parliament. They exist as separate series & individual reports, inquiries will be given a number preceded by a specific abbreviation of the word command. This distinguishes them from general official documents.

Law Reports

Law Reports from onshi's photostream

Law Reports are Primary law sources for UK law but Secondary sources for EU law.

UK Law Reports show the law in action & demonstrate how UK legislation is interpreted by the courts they can therefore influence later decisions.

EU Law Reports may include:-Decisions which treat very specific cases & only bind those to whom they are addressed but may influence later legislationRecommendations & Opinions which have no binding force but do carry moral & political weight.

BAILII is a useful source for official transcripts of cases so may have some information very quickly. Remember these are unedited & contain no helpful links to other cases or legislation nor do they indicate if a judgement has been overturned.

Jordan's, Lexis & Westlaw each provide a range of law reports (including some European series). These have a number of editorial features, which are preferred by judges (ICLR in particular).They also register later treatment of cases by judges.

Heinonline provides access to the older English (or Nominate reports). These are a 178 volumes by named authors which cover cases back to 1220.