Legal Research
Legal Materials
When using legal materials it is important to understand the two categories of legal materials:
Primary legal materials are the written records of the law
- Legislation
- Cases
Secondary legal materials are those materials which are ABOUT the law:
- Extrinsic legal materials which are documents, defined within a jurisdiction's Interpretation Act, that can be used in court to interpret the meaning and intent of legislation. These usually consist of Parliamentary debates (Hansard), which includes Second Readings of a Bill, and Law Reform documents.
- Sentencing Decisions and Remarks by Judges.
- Books, journals and commentaries which discuss the law
- Reference tools which help find the law (dictionaries, encyclopedias, guides and directories).
Here you will find information on searching for Western Australian and Australian Legislation, Case law and Hansard (Parliamentary Debates). For more information on searching for Legal materials, please see the Law Library Guide.
Legal Research
Law Library Guide
Australian Legal System
Nemes and Coss' Effective Legal Research (6th Ed.) [e-version] by Call Number: JOO Main 340.072 BOT / MTL Main 340.072 BOTISBN: 9780409339208Publication Date: 2015A current, comprehensive and informative approach to legal research Nemes and Coss’ Effective Legal Research, 6th edition is an indispensable guide to mastering the techniques and strategies that are vital for successful legal research and writing. The authors canvass a wide variety of electronic and print-based resources relevant to Australian law and provide worked examples based on contextual problems and pointers to potential dangers. Helpful illustrations, flowcharts and diagrams familiarise readers with the environment in which they will be undertaking research. The sixth edition has been comprehensively updated to reflect current research methods. It also includes additional content on plagiarism and offers an extended focus on researching using international sources. Citation information has been extended to assist researchers to produce clear, well-referenced writing conforming to the widely adopted 3rd edition of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Features: A practical approach with numerous learning features; Encourages development of essential research and writing skills; AGLC compliance supports understanding of the referencing system required for law studies.
