Primary and Secondary Sources of Law

Primary and Secondary Sources of Law

Introduction

In law there are two sources through which research can be conducted and evidence can be collected. The sources are divided into primary and secondary sources of law. The primary sources of law are further divided into two categories: 1) is legislation for example rules, statutes, orders-in-council and regulations, and 2) is the law cases for example decisions announced by courts and tribunals on different cases registered. On the other hand secondary sources are the resources used in the background to find evidence or conduct research work. There are several kinds of secondary resources for example the legal text books, journals, dictionaries, encyclopedias and summaries of previous cases. Secondary sources are used as a source of reference along with the primary sources but unlike primary resource, a secondary resource cannot affect the legal right. Secondary Resources unlike primary resources a source of starting the legal research for any case and it assists the legal researchers. Primary resource is the first hand resource for the legal researcher and is not outdated like secondary legal resource. The following assignment will further explain the differences between the primary and the legal sources of law; and will also explain with example of documents that either it belongs to the primary source of law or secondary source of law.

Discussion

Primary resources are the source for the local bodies to make the laws but a law cannot be made by using a secondary resource. It is also possible that primary resource can have an effect on the legal right of a citizen but a secondary source does not have any effect on any legal right. The legal researchers can use a variety of secondary resources like legal words & phrases, legal dictionary, annotated law reports, legal periodicals, legal ...