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Legal Research

Welcome

Welcome to the Henry Whittemore Library Legal Research LibGuide! 

Please feel free to contact a librarian at any time during your research process.

Primary and Secondary Sources in Legal Research

Legal research can include the use of both primary and secondary sources.  Primary sources are official pronouncements of governmental lawmakers.  Examples of primary sources include court decisions, statutes, and regulations that influence legal doctrine.  Secondary sources are works that discuss, explain, or analyze legal doctrine, but are not actual laws.  Examples of secondary sources include: treatises, hornbooks, restatements and practice manuals.

 

Legal Primary Sources

Legal Secondary Sources

  • Court decisions
  • Treatises
  • Statutes
  • Hornbooks
  • Regulations
  • Restatements

 

  • Practice manuals

 

  • Law reviews from academic journals

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