Secondary sources are a great place to begin your legal research, especially if you are not familiar with English law. They can provide foundational information on the legal system and certain areas of law as well as point out relevant legislation and leading cases.
Halsbury's Laws of England is the authoritative legal encyclopedia for English and Welsh law. It lays out the black letter law, meaning settled law. It is a great resource for researchers looking to quickly familiarize themselves with an area of English law, as well as leading cases and relevant legislation.
Halsbury's is available on Lexis and is updated frequently. To access it, type "Halsbury's" into the search bar on Lexis's homepage after navigating to UK content.
►See Accessing UK Content on Westlaw and Lexis for help finding UK content on Lexis.
Books, textbooks, journal articles, and other secondary sources are fantastic options for familiarizing yourself with a particular area of English law. You can also use this information to guide your search for relevant legislation and case law.
Finding English Law by John Eaton is a helpful resource because it points to various texts, websites, and blogs on particular areas of English law.
►See Textbooks, Treatises, and More to learn how to find books and ebooks using Omni.
►See Journal Literature for several strategies for finding journal articles, which are still relevant for finding articles on English law.
Did you know that the same term can have different definitions in other jurisdictions? In addition, the same legal concept may have different names in different jurisdictions. It is a good idea to explore legal dictionaries to learn about different terminologies and how certain words or phrases are defined by UK judges.
The Oxford Dictionary of Law (online) or Stroud's Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases (in print) are great starting points.