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Legal Research Guide

Legal Research: How to Read a Legal Case

Reading a legal case can be confusing and frustrating.  The articles below should help you learn what is important to take from a legal decision.

Legal Research: Legal Reference Books

Black’s Law Dictionary Legal dictionary that defines basic and complex legal issues.
Legal Thesaurus Thesaurus of legal terms. Useful for finding legal jargon from more commonly used terms.
The Oxford Companion to American Law For any reader needing a concise yet expert explanation of a subject in law. Providing greater depth than can be found in legal dictionaries but always accessible to the non-specialist, entries in the Companion cover all areas of law and legal systems and are extensively cross-referenced for ease of navigation.
The Guide to American Law : Everyone's Legal Encyclopedia The Guide's coverage is full enough to satisfy most nonlawyers on any legal subject without being overwhelming. In addition to articles on legal topics, it includes accounts of famous trials and historical events, biographies, and definitions. The appendix includes sample legal forms, important legal documents, and a chronology of American legal history.
Encyclopedia of Law & Society : American and Global Perspectives A comprehensive introduction to the field of law and society with 667 articles written from interdisciplinary perspectives of law from sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics fields.
The Bluebook : A Uniform System of Citation The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation continues to set the standard for how to write and correctly attribute references in legal articles, reports and memorandum.
Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations Used in American Law Books: Provides common legal abbreviations and full format. Helpful to deconstruct legal citations to find legal sources.
Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law Approximately 200 enyclopedia articles provide historical information, brief descriptions of relevant federal laws and regulations, variations in state and some local laws, directions to print and electronic sources of additional information, and contact details for potentially useful national and state organizations and agencies. The articles are arranged in alphabetical order within broad categories, such as "Attorneys," "Consumer Issues," "Education," "Immigration," "Real Estate," and "Taxes." Some sections are surprisingly brief, while others are rather comprehensive.
Last Update: 02 May 15:46 | Tagged with: law legal research



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