Legal Information

Legal Resources
Discovery & Analysis
5/2/2016 8:04 AM
Buddhi Prakash Chauhan and Sakshi Garg
1

Legal Information: the basics
A legal professional needs to know
1. What type of law is applicable
• National Law
• Private International Law (choice of law/ conflict of law) governs
conflicts between private persons, rather than states
• Public International Law concerns the treaty relationships
between the nations and persons which are considered the
subjects of international law.
• Transnational/ International Law set of rules generally regarded
and accepted as binding in relations between states and
between nations
• Supranational Law: form of international law, based on the
limitation of the rights of sovereign nations between one another
e.g. EU Law
• Soft Law: Non binding instruments
2. What are the sources of law
5/2/2016 8:04 AM Buddhi Prakash Chauhan and Sakshi Garg 2

Legal Information : The basics
Sources of law largely depend upon the legal system of the
country
• Types of National Legal Systems
• Common Law legislations, statutes, decisions by courts e.g.
Australia, USA
• Civil Law codified laws, statutes passed by Govt. e.g. Spain, Russia,
Greece
• Customary Law/ Opinio Juris social norms, treated as force of law,
uncodified laws e.g. Jersey, Andorra
• Religious Law based on religious precepts e.g. Jewish Halakha,
Islamic Sharia e.g. Maldives Islands, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan
• Mixed Law two or more systems apply cumulatively e.g. India,
Japan
• Link: World legal systems
http://www.juriglobe.ca/eng/sys-juri/index-alpha.php

Sources of Law
• Primary
 Constitution of India
 Statutes: legislation by Parliament, State & Union Territory Legislature
 Case Law or court decisions
 Treaties & International Agreements and
 Customary Law
• Secondary
 Books & serials: commentaries
 Periodicals/Yearbooks: law reviews
 Dictionaries, lexicon & encyclopedias
 Electronic Databases
• Territory Sources and Resource Discovery tools
 Legislative Digest
 Case Law Digest & indexes
 Case citators,
 Equivalence tables
 Web based resources
• Electronic Sources: Proprietary sources, Official web portals
• People, organizations and other open web sources

Primary Sources of Law
1. Constitutions/Charters fundamental principles of law by
which a govt. created. Constitution of India
 http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html
 Constituent Assembly debates. 12 vols. New Delhi: Lok Sabha
Secretariat, 2009. -Print
2. Statutes act of legislature, adopted under its constitutional
authority
3. Court Decisions
4. Treaties and International Agreements official agreement
in words or as legislation to regulate particular aspect of
international relations
5. Customary Law
1. Private International Law: diplomatic papers, decrees,
legislation dealing with international matters, legislative acts of
intergovernmental organizations
2. Domestic Customary Law: customs, beliefs of indigenous
people

Statutes
• Session Laws: laws bound in order of their enactment, before possible
codification. By Legislative bodies: Chronological Order by sessions, Acts of
Parliament
• Link: http://indiacode.nic.in/ ; http://www.liiofindia.org/databases.html
• Official gazettes Govt. publications after enactment of a legislature like GOI
Gazette Part II section 1: Acts, Ordinances and Regulations
• Link: http://egazette.nic.in ; http://egazette.nic.in/Searchmenu2.aspx;
http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/libweb/gazette/gazetteofindia.html
• Official Publications: Individual Bare Acts. Ministry of Law, India Code
• Subscribed Sources: SCC Online; Manupatra; Westlaw India
• India Code <http://indiacode.nic.in>
• Compilations of codified laws: a collection of statutes existing as well as in
force as Annual Volumes or loose-leaf form usually by subject e.g. Halsbury’s
Statutes of England, Halsbury`s Annotated Statutes of India, bare acts on
specific subject area like Civil code, CPC, CrPC, Labour Code, IPC etc.
• Compilations of specific laws by private publishers: like AIR MANUAL,
Halsbury’s Laws of India, Civil Court manual, Criminal Court Manual
• Administrative rules/regulations: Published in GOI Part II Section 3
• Link: http://egazette.nic.in ; http://egazette.nic.in/Searchmenu2.aspx
• Subscribed legal databases for primary sources
• Links: SCC Online ; Manupatra; Westlaw India; LexisNexis Academic; HeinOnline

Court Decisions
• Official Law Reports
• Supreme Court Reports http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/scr.htm
• Law Reports: (AC, CH, QB, FAM), WLR
• Government Official Database
• SUPLIS http://supnet.nic.in/suplis/main.html [for Supreme Court Caselaws,
1950 onwards]
• JUDIS http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/chejudis.asp [for Supreme Court of
India and several High Courts judgments, 1950 onwards]
• Law Reports compiled by private publishers:
AllER, AIR, SCC
• Subject Law Reports: Criminal Law Reports, Labour Law
Reports etc
• Court sites: Official websites with their brief description
• http://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/
• http://www.jgu.edu.in/library/node/204

Treaties & International Agreements
• Official sources of treaties
• Indian Treaties Database http://www.mea.gov.in/TreatyList.htm?1 by Ministry
of External Affairs, search by specific subject, agreement type or country; or
simple keywords.
• LII of India- Indian Treaty Series (INTSer)
http://www.liiofindia.org/in/other/treaties/INTSer/ full-text treaties of Indian
bilateral treaties from 1947-2009
• Subscribed Legal Databases
• SCC Online -Bilateral Treaties of the India and Other nations Bilateral
Investments Treaties (BITs) and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements
(DTAAs), WIPO, ILO treaties between India and other countries.
• Westlaw India Combined Treaties (CMB-TREATIES) multibase database contains
all treaties, conventions, agreements and other international materials
• Lexis Nexis Academic - Treaties & International Agreements International
Treaties, Treaties and Agreements from International Legal Materials (ILM) a
publication of the American Society of International Law, U.S. Treaties in Force,
and U.S. treaties on LEXIS.
• HeinOnline- U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library

Customary Law/ Opinio juris
customs are social norms and treat as force of law and Court of India
recognized customs as law, only if the custom is:
• Ancient or immemorial in origin
• Reasonable in nature & continuous in use
• Certain in its extent and invariable in its practice & operation e.g. protection of
tribal indigenous communities and their
Private International Law: also referred as “Conflict of laws”
• Source: Public & official documents like press releases, newspapers, diplomatic
papers, decrees, legislation dealing with international matters, legislative acts
of intergovernmental organizations, Audio or video discussions.
• Link: Ministry of External Affairs <http://www.mea.gov.in/index.htm>
• Dicey, A V, et al., ed. Dicey, Morris, and Collins on the conflict of laws. 15th ed. 2
vols. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2012.- Print
Domestic Customary Law: uncodified laws, rules and regulations
that are agreed upon by people of a nation e.g. muslim customs,
tribal customs. Includes customs, beliefs of indigenous people
• Source: Public & official documents like press releases, newspapers, legislation
dealing with the kind of matters, Audio or video discussions, Dharmshastra
(Manusmriti): source of Hindu law, Hadiths: source of Muslim personal law
• Halsbury`s laws of India: Competition law and trade practices, Conflict of laws,
and Courts. Vol 10. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2008. pp. 205-329 – Encyclopedia- Print

Secondary Sources of LawBooks & Serials: Commentaries series of explanations or annotations, record of popular
facts and case laws
 Datar, Arvind P. Datar Commentay on the Constitution of India. 2nd ed. 3 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis,
2007.
 Gour, Hari Singh. Penal Law of India. 11th ed. 4 vols. Allahabad: Asia Law House, 2009.
 Sarkar, S C. Sarkar on the Law Code of Criminal Procedure. 9th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007.
 Ramaiya, A. Guide to the Companies Act. 17th ed. 3 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010
 Kangra and Palkhivala's Law and Practice of Income Tax. 9th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009
 Mulla, D F. Code of Civil Procedure. 18th ed. 3 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010.
 Pollock, Frederick. Pollock and Mulla’s Indian Contract and Specific Relief Acts. 14th ed. 2 vols.
Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2013.
 Bharuka, G C. Mulla the Transfer of Property Act 1882. 10th ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010.
Parlimentary Debates
 Link: http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/Debates/DebateArchive.aspx
Periodicals/Yearbooks: Law Reviews
 AIR, CLA, DLT, DMC, CLJ, LLJ, MLJ
Dictionaries, Lexicons & Encyclopedias
 Aiyar, P Ramanatha. P Ramanatha Aiyar`s Advanced Law Lexicon. 3rd ed. 4 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis,
2009.
 Motion, A W. Pocket Law Lexicon. 8th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2009
 Halsbury`s laws of India. 45 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2008 - Encyclopedia

Territory Sources & Resource Discovery tools
Legislative Digest means to accessing any act or statute of a nation e.g.
Supreme Court Digests, AIR Fifty Year Digests (1901-1950), Quinquennial
Digests (every five years), annual digests
• D.V. Chitaley, and N. Ramaratnam. The fifty Years' digest, 1901-1950
: Civil, Criminal & Revenue. Nagpur: All India Reporter.
Case Law Digest & indexes means of accessing case law by topical or
subject wise like Current Law Case Citator (S&M)
• Sources: Supreme Court Digests, AIR Fifty Year Digests (1901-1950),
Quinquennial Digests (every five years), annual digests
• Soonavala, J K. Soonavala`s Supreme Court Criminal Digest (1950-
2006). 4th ed. 4 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007.
• Malik, Sumeet. Supreme Court Yearly Digests. Lucknow: Eastern
Book Company, 2009
• Soni, Ashok. Supreme Court on Service Laws 1950 to date. 2 vols.
Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009
• Labour Law Journal Digest [1976-1999]
Continued..

Territory Sources & Resource Discovery tools
Case Citators tools for case law research which provide information like the
correct citation for a case; whether the case has been reported multiple
times; a case has been considered, applied, distinguished, or overruled.
• Supreme court case citator. 4 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007 - Print
• Dobia, T S and Laxman Shinde. High court citator (1949-2008). 2 vols.
Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009 – Print
• CaseBase Case Citator <http://www.lexisnexis.com.au/en-
AU/products/CaseBase-Case-Citator-online.page>, Shepardizing
Online<http://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/products/shepards.page>
(LexisNexis) - Online
• FirstPoint <http://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/products/firstpoint/>,
KeyCiting Online (Thomson Reuter) - Online
• JustCite (Justis) <www.justcite.com> - Online
• LawCite <http://www.austlii.edu.au/lawcite/> free legal case and
journal article citator - Online
• Google as resource locator - Online
Equivalent Citation Table tool to know the parallel citations of cases
published in different journals
• Link: http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/ect.htm

Electronic Sources of Law
• Usually cover a variety of sources and subjects
• Information Type: Primary, secondary
• Formats: Journals, news,
• Period
• Access
• IP Based institutional access (within the campus)
• Outside the campus: VPN, EZProxy
• Some resources may require user ID and passwords

Official web portals
Official websites of Government Organizations
Law Commission of India full-text Law Commission of India
reports
Ministry of Law and Justice management of the legal affairs,
legislative activities and administration of justice in India
India Code Central Acts of Parliament right from 1836 onwards
Indian Courts Indian Court judgements
Ministry of Corporate Affairs all services, guidance, and other
corporate affairs related information.
Ministry of External Affairs full-text bilateral and multilateral
treaties/ agreements/ MoU etc. related to foreign affairs.
SUPLIS database of Supreme Court Case laws since 1950 along
with parallel citations or equivalent citations and retrieval
through famous/ popular names.
The Judgment Information system (JUDIS) Judgments of the
Supreme Court of India and several High Courts since 1950.
JUDIS Institutional repository digital archive for Indian Courts
judgments and case law.

Proprietary sources
Proprietary sources: legal electronic resources
<http://www.jgu.edu.in/library/content/e-journals-multi-format-
resources>
SCC Online Indian Case-Law, Indian Statutory Law including central
statutes, circulars, notifications, instructions, rules, regulations etc.
Manupatra includes Indian Supreme court, Indian High courts,
Tribunals and Commissions cases & judgements, orders; Acts/ Statutes
Taxmann’s Corporate, Direct & Indirect and International Taxation Law
Statues, Case Laws & Commentaries on Domestic and International
Taxation & Corporate Laws
AIR Comprehensive Database (Offline Database) AIR SCW, AIR High
Courts and Criminal Law Journal Software from 1950 to March 2013
AIR Privy Council Database (Offline Database) from 1914-1950
Westlaw India UK & US legal material, Indian Court judgements
LexisNexis Academic Federal and state cases and statutes including U.S.
Supreme Court Decisions since 1790.
HeinOnline around 1757 law related periodicals, 127 U.S. treaties &
agreements, 3641 World Constitutions

5/2/2016 8:04 AM Buddhi Prakash Chauhan 16

5/2/2016 8:04 AM Buddhi Prakash Chauhan 17

Web Research
Pitfalls of free web resources
1. Quality & Bias-
• Unreliability, no “gatekeeping”.
• Reliable source:
• Formal authority, Public authority
• Cognitive authority- if everyone trusts a tool, if everyone uses
that tool, then that tool is authoritative
2. Tendency to limit search to only web resources
1. Typical Problems with foreign materials
1. Language
2. Style
3. Unfamiliarity with culture

Free access to Legal Information
• Most of the primary legal information is produced by
public authorities
• Law must be published and available freely
• Free access to Law Movement
• Legal Information Institute http://www.law.cornell.edu/
• Legal Information Institute of India: http://www.liiofindia.org

Electronic Sources: open web sources
Lawnotes.in/Indian Acts digital archive, in chronologically order, for
Indian Courts judgments and case law.
The Public Library of Law (PLoL) cases from the U.S. Supreme Court and
Courts of Appeals; cases from all 50 states back to 1997; Federal
statutory law and codes from all 50 states; Regulations, court rules,
constitutions.
casetext.com judicial opinions, statutes, and regulations; cases
annotated by growing community of lawyers and law professors;
community pages like criminal law, constitutional law, copyright law,
ADR, Medical Law, Military Law, Tax Law
LawCite international legal case and journal article citator.
Constitution Finder links and in some instances copies of Constitutions
from around the world.

Searching
• Constructing searches
• Free word searches: Literal, phrase
• Advance searches: form, period, origin
• Iterative search (refine your search)

Searching: Boolean Operators
Three Basic Operators
AND
OR
NOT (BUTNOT)
Other Operators
Quotation marks “ “ for phrase searches
Parentheses ( ) for combining terms/phrases
using more than one operators
Proximity Operators
Adj adj1 adj2
Blind Cards * $ #

The Global Library
Print Law Resources at JGU
• http://dspace.jgu.edu.in:8080/jspui/handle/123456789
%2010739/117
Electronic Resouces at JGU
• http://www.jgu.edu.in/library/content/e-journals-
multi-format-resources
Library Catalogue
• http://koha.jgu.edu.in
Library Website
• http://www.jgu.edu.in/library/

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