LW1LS LEGAL SKILLS

LECTURES 2 & 3 –
READING & FINDING MATERIALS

By: Associate Professor Anne Chrishanthani Vergis

Head of Law
1

Copyright University of Reading

FINDING AND READING
LEGAL MATERIALS
• Two lectures:
1. Finding the materials
• Interpreting legal citations
> Knowing where to look
- Electronic or print?
2. Reading what you have found
• Understanding what you see
> Developing effective reading techniques
• Can a skill be taught?
• Foundations for Tutorial Two
LEGAL SKILLS: A GUIDE
• A major learning resource developed specially for your use
• Main topics covered by these lectures:
• 1 Reading Cases and Statutes
• 2 Using the University Library
• 3 Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
• 7 Reading Skills
LEGAL SOURCES &
THE ORGANIZATION OF
LEGAL MATERIALS
• Primary materials
•Sources of English • Legislation

Law
• Case law
• Secondary materials
• Indexes & digests
• Legislation • Official reports, etc.
(Acts of Parliament, • Journals
• sometimes contain case
SIs, EU legislation) reports
• Books
• Cases
• Custom (?)
LEGAL SOURCES - REMINDER
•Sources of Law
• Legislation (Acts
of Parliament,
Statutory
Instruments, EU
legislation)
• Cases
TYPES OF LEGISLATION
Acts of Parliament or Statutes
Primary • Introduced into Parliament as Bills
• Orders in Council: non-Parliamentary primary
legislation legislation made by Privy Council
• Around 35-40 Bills become Acts each year

Delegated, subsidiary or subordinate

• SIs - made under the authority of a Statute
Secondary • Scrutiny: positive or negative resolution
legislation • At peak, around 3,000 SIs passed a year
THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
• Bills (public, private or hybrid)
• Passage of a Bill
• Introduction / First Reading (formality)
• Second Reading (debate)
• Committee Stage (detailed consideration)
• Report Stage (returns to House – debate on amendments)
• Third Reading (overview – no substantive amendments)
• Over to the other House – agreement? If yes – Royal Assent
BUT…
• Acts of Parliament frequently change, as they are amended by more
recent statutes. Therefore looking at the Act as it was first published,
whether in print or on the web, is hazardous
• In practice for your purposes an up-to-date student statute book is
usually safe
• Legal databases – LexisLibrary or Westlaw UK – will give you the current
version of a statute in electronic form
• For some purposes you may want the unamended wording
LEGAL SOURCES - REMINDER
•Sources of Law
• Legislation (Acts of
Parliament, EU
legs, SIs)
• Cases
CASE LAW
• Over 200,000 cases heard
annually in England & Wales
alone
• Only around 2,500 of these are
formally reported
• All Supreme Court cases
• Fewer Appeal Court
• Even fewer High Court
• Specialist courts e.g.
Tribunals
• Transcripts of unreported
cases may be on electronic
databases or the Web
UK Courts
WHAT DO CASES DO?
• They determine the issue between the parties
• They may or may not also be precedents
• What is a precedent?
• A case which determines a new point of law, rather than
merely being an example/application of established law
SOURCES FOR CASE LAW
• Law Reports
• Until late 19th century
published by individual
lawyers (“Nominate
reports”)
• In 1865 the Bar Council set
up the Incorporated
Council of Law Reporting
and started publishing The
Law Reports
• ... and the Weekly Law
Reports (from 1954)
• All England Law Reports
started 1936
THE LAW REPORTS
• Sometimes known as the ‘official’ law reports, or the ‘Incorporated
Council’ reports
• Started in 1865
• About 25 separate series, each with its own abbreviation, of which
only 4 are published today
• AC Ch QB Fam
• Abbreviations can be decoded with “Appendix 1 – Legal
Abbreviations” of your Skills Guide or the online Cardiff Index to Legal
Abbreviations:
• http://www.legalabbrevs.cardiff.ac.uk
OTHER SERIES OF REPORTS
• Other general series
• All England Law Reports
[LexisLibrary only]
Weekly Law Reports
• Specialised reports
• Criminal Appeal Reports,
Family Law Reports,
Industrial Relations Law
Reports, etc.
LAW REPORTING :
THE HISTORY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=E8MnKD5q1WE
LAW REPORTING:
THE PROCESS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Tq4_D2Fr4&feature=youtu.be
HIERARCHY OF LAW REPORTS
TYPICAL CASE NAMES
• Bolton v Stone
• R v Collins
• R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Hosenball
• R (on the application of Buxton) v Parole Board and Another
• RvR
• Re H (A Minor) (Care Proceedings: Child's Wishes)
• Re Smith (or In re Smith)
• The Bowbelle
INTERPRETING A
LEGAL CITATION
Citations usually consist of
The names of the parties
Date
Part/Volume
number Abbreviation
Page no.

Hunter v Canary Wharf [1997] 2 WLR 684

R. v Blaue [1975] 3 All ER 446
R. v Lynch (1965) 50 Cr App R 59
LEGAL ABBREVIATIONS
(APPENDIX 1)
• Some of the more common law report abbreviations:
• All ER All England Law Reports
• WLR Weekly Law Reports
• AC Law Reports: Appeal Cases
• QB Law Reports: Queen's Bench Division
• ECR European Court Reports
• EHHR European Human Rights Reports
• Cr App R Criminal Appeal Reports

• Others:
• HL House of Lords
• CA Court of Appeal
EXCEPTION:
NEUTRAL CITATIONS
Year Court Division Case no.
Court of
Appeal [2001] EWCA Civ 12

Year Court Division Case no.

High Court
[2002] EWHC (Fam) 429

• Used since January 2001

• Unique case numbering
• “Neutral” because citations do not specify a particular law report
• EW = England/Wales; UK = whole of United Kingdom
• UKSC = Supreme Court; UKHL = House of Lords; UKPC = Privy Council
LOOKING AT A CASE
LOOKING AT A CASE (CONT’D)

Cases
referred
to

Procedural
history
LOOKING AT A CASE (CONT’D)

Arguments
LOOKING AT A CASE (CONT’D)

Judgment
Judge

Orders of
the court
solicitors
Court
Reporter
ASSESSING THE PRECEDENT
VALUE OF A CASE
• What does this case decide?
• The ratio decidendi
• Which court was it heard in?
• What is the precedent value of the case?
• Supreme Court/HL
• CA
• HC
• County Court
• Cases and statutes
• The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the
Human Rights Act 1998
LEGAL SOURCES &
THE ORGANIZATION
OF LEGAL MATERIALS
•Sources of English • Primary materials
• Legislation
Law • Case law
• Secondary materials
• Legislation • Indexes & digests
(Acts of Parliament, • official reports, etc.
• periodicals
SIs, EU legislation) • sometimes contain case reports
• books
• Cases
LW1LS LEGAL SKILLS

LECTURE 3 – - FINDING MATERIALS

By: Associate Professor Anne Chrishanthani Vergis

Head of Law 39

Copyright University of Reading

FINDING THINGS …
1. The Library
2. Legal databases
3. Using the Web and evaluating what you find
4. Warning: things not to do
1. THE LIBRARY
• Location
• You will need to be able to find your way to:
• Books
• Law journals
• Law report series
• Different forms of printed legislation
• Subject guide: http://libguides.reading.ac.uk/law
• Law: finding your way guide (on Blackboard)
• Also Topic 2 of Guide and Library website
• Library Legal Skills workshop later this term
2. LEGAL DATABASES
• LexisLibrary
• Westlaw UK
• How to become familiar with these
• Increasingly the first port of call. But they should not be regarded as a
substitute for learning your way around the Library and printed materials.
3. USING THE WEB
MORE GENERALLY
• If in doubt, Google???
• Reasons for
• Reasons against
• Evaluating internet sources
• Excellent advice at https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/evaluating-
websites
• Also recommended Virtual Training Suite’s Internet for Law
3. CONT...
INTERNET MATERIALS
• The starting point to legal study is not the Internet!
• Variable quality of materials on the Web
• Academic publishing and peer review process
3. CONT... AUTHORITY
• Who is responsible for the page/site?
• Is it a reliable organisation (eg a well known university) or a subject
expert?
• Can you trust them?
3. CONT...
ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY
• Is the information correct?
• Is the grammar and spelling correct?
• Is it complete, or are they just giving one point of view?
• Do they have their own agenda eg political organisations?
• Is the information fact or opinion?
3. CONT...
CURRENCY AND LEVEL
• Can you tell how up-to-date it is?
• Is it regularly updated?
• Is the information of the right level to be quoted in your project?
• If it is aimed at the general public or school children it might not be!
• Satirical sites: general principles, URLs, content
4. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER...
• Use Wikipedia for citations
• Use legal dictionaries as a final word
• Copy and paste = plagiarism
READING WHAT YOU
HAVE FOUND
• Tools and skills – not the same!
• Read Legal Skills Guide Topic 7: Reading Skills
• Effective reading techniques
• Effective study techniques
• Further guidance on Study Advice website
• Study Smart tutorial if not done
• Practice, Practice, Practice...
• Any Questions?