Legal Research Methods

The purpose of legal research is to find "authority" that will support in finding an answer to a legal problem.
Validating that the law one has found is still valid and not overruled, canceled or otherwise questioned or criticized.

Primary Source Of Legal Research

Primary sources of legal research are the commanding journals of law made by parliament and the law court.
Primary authorities can be either compulsory (binding) or convincing (non-binding)

Secondary Source Of Legal Research

Secondary sources of legal research are textbooks, newsletters, encyclopedias, reference or finding tools.
Government documents are also a major source of secondary legal information and include those documents written in the course of making legislation such as second reading speeches, explanatory memorandum, and parliamentary reports.

The components of an organized method In selecting a secondary source is to look for high-quality publications that do the following things:

Lead us to the next step in our investigation by describing our choices, but not leading us amiss with marginal and unrelated material
Use wide-ranging references, directories, and tables to provide well-organized access to the material
Include thorough topical outlines that give a complete overview of the subject
Deliver determined citations to the best primary and secondary authorities
Deliver a cautiously structured, hierarchical association and
Present brief, complete, proficient analysis