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Legal ResourcesDiscovery & Analysis

Buddhi Prakash Chauhan and Sakshi Garg

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Legal Information: the basicsA 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 instruments2. What are the sources of law

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Legal Information : The basicsSources 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 systemshttp://www.juriglobe.ca/eng/sys-juri/index-alpha.php

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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

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Primary Sources of Law1. 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 authority3. Court Decisions 4. Treaties and International Agreements official agreement in words or as legislation to regulate particular aspect of international relations5. 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

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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

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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

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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

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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.- PrintDomestic 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

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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

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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..

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Territory Sources & Resource Discovery toolsCase 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

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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

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Official web portals Official websites of Government OrganizationsLaw Commission of India full-text Law Commission of India

reportsMinistry of Law and Justice management of the legal affairs,

legislative activities and administration of justice in IndiaIndia Code Central Acts of Parliament right from 1836 onwardsIndian Courts Indian Court judgementsMinistry 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.

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Proprietary sourcesProprietary 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 1914-1950Westlaw India UK & US legal material, Indian Court judgementsLexisNexis 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

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Web ResearchPitfalls 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 materials1. Language2. Style3. Unfamiliarity with culture

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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

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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.

Buddhi Prakash Chauhan and Sakshi Garg

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

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Searching: Boolean OperatorsThree Basic Operators

ANDORNOT (BUTNOT)

Other OperatorsQuotation marks “ “ for phrase searchesParentheses ( ) for combining terms/phrases using more

than one operatorsProximity Operators

Adj adj1 adj2

Blind Cards * $ #

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The Global LibraryPrint 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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Thank you