Law is a set of rules that govern the conduct of a community. These rules are made by a government, which citizens must follow or face punishment. These laws can be categorized into criminal law and civil law.
Criminal Law: Dangerous behavior is outlawed by society, government prosecutes accused, guilt is determined, and a fine or jail sentence is imposed. This law is usually applied to offenses that involve money or property, such as stealing or fraud.
Civil Law: Regulates rights and duties between parties, victim, not government, brings suit, guilty not determined, compensation or equitable relief, is ordered. This type of law is often found in contracts, divorce, inheritance, and other areas.
Legal Research Materials
There are a variety of resources that can be used to help you with your legal research. These include books and journals on law, as well as electronic databases that contain articles related to your topic.
Legal dictionaries give definitions of words that are related to the practice of law. Examples of these dictionaries are Black’s Law Dictionary, Words and Phrases, and Legal Encyclopedias.
Legislative history materials are those that contain bills, committee reports and documents, hearings, debates, and presidential signing statements. These are usually arranged in volumes called the Serial Set.
Code sets are collections of legislative laws from different states or countries. These collections typically have a table of contents and can be searched by popular name, topic, and table of contents. The collections also include court rule volumes that describe court procedures.
Articles are a type of rule that is written under statutes, codes, or paragraphs in a legal document. These are often a part of a contract, a deed, or other type of document that defines the terms of the agreement between the parties.
Cases are a type of law that is decided by courts, the judicial branch of government. These cases are considered precedents, and can be referred to in future disputes.
Restatements are important books that provide summaries of various rules of law. They cover such topics as conflicts of law, contracts, foreign relations, judgments, property, torts, and trusts. These are usually published as complete sets, but sometimes they are published in a looseleaf format that is updated through the addition of supplements.
Supplements are usually found in the back of the book or in a separate volume. These may be published by the same publisher as the original, or they might be produced by another publisher.
A law review is a project in which students write about a law topic. This can be a daunting task because it requires precision in terms, breadth and depth in discussion, and innovation in point of view.
This is a difficult assignment, so it is crucial to do your research before beginning this project. The best way to find articles about a particular topic is to use an online database or index, such as the Index to Legal Periodicals and Books or HeinOnline.