essay writing

case law research paper

How to Conduct Legal Research

How to Conduct Legal Research

IN THIS ARTICLE

Where do I begin my legal research?

What if i’m new to the practice area or specific legal issue, how do i respond to the opposing side’s brief, how can legal research help with drafting or strategy, how do i validate case law citations, how should i use technology to improve my legal research.

Legal research starts here – enabling smarter, faster decisions and confident action for your clients, practice, and organization.

Learn more about Bloomberg Law’s complete legal research resource

[Learn more about Bloomberg Law’s complete legal research resource – enabling smarter, faster decisions and confident action for your clients, practice, and organization.]

Conducting legal research can challenge even the most skilled law practitioners.

As laws evolve across jurisdictions, it can be a difficult to keep pace with every legal development. Equally daunting is the ability to track and glean insights into stakeholder strategies and legal responses. Without quick and easy access to the right tools, the legal research upon which case strategy hinges may face cost, personnel, and litigation outcome challenges.

Bloomberg Law’s artificial intelligence-driven tools drastically reduce the time to perform legal research. Whether you seek quick answers to legal research definitions, or general guidance on the legal research process, Bloomberg Law’s Core Litigation Skills Toolkit has you covered.

What is legal research?

Legal research is the process of uncovering and understanding all of the legal precedents, laws, regulations, and other legal authorities that apply in a case and inform an attorney’s course of action.

Legal research often involves case law research, which is the practice of identifying and interpreting the most relevant cases concerning the topic at issue. Legal research can also involve a deep dive into a judge’s past rulings or opposing counsel’s record of success.

Research is not a process that has a finite start and end, but remains ongoing throughout every phase of a legal matter. It is a cornerstone of a litigator’s skills.

[Learn how our integrated, time-saving litigation research tools allow litigators to streamline their work and get answers quickly.]

Beginning your legal research will look different for each assignment. At the outset, ensure that you understand your goal by asking questions and taking careful notes. Ask about background case information, logistical issues such as filing deadlines, the client/matter number, and billing instructions.

It’s also important to consider how your legal research will be used. Is the research to be used for a pending motion? If you are helping with a motion for summary judgment, for example, your goal is to find cases that are in the same procedural posture as yours and come out favorably for your side (i.e., if your client is the one filing the motion, try to find cases where a motion for summary judgment was granted, not denied). Keep in mind the burden of proof for different kinds of motions.

Finally, but no less important, assess the key facts of the case. Who are the relevant parties? Where is the jurisdiction? Who is the judge? Note all case details that come to mind.

While conducting legal research, it is easy to go down rabbit holes. Resist the urge to start by reviewing individual cases, which may prove irrelevant. Start instead with secondary sources, which often provide a prevailing statement of the law for a specific topic. These sources will save time and orient you to the area of the law and key issues.

Litigation Practical Guidance provides the essentials including step-by-step guidance, expert legal analysis, and a preview of next steps. Source citations are included in all Practical Guidance, and you can filter Points of Law, Smart Code®, and court opinions searches to get the jurisdiction-specific cases or statutes you need.

Points of Law Bloomberg Law feature on a desktop computer screen

Searching across Points of Law will help to get your bearings on an issue before diving into reading the cases in full. Points of Law uses machine learning to identify key legal principles expressed in court opinions, which are easily searchable by keyword and jurisdiction. This tool helps you quickly find other cases that have expressed the same Point of Law, and directs you to related Points of Law that might be relevant to your research. It is automatically updated with the most recent opinions, saving you time and helping you quickly drill down to the relevant cases.

No matter when you’re working, we’ve got the smarter, faster resources you need, including faster case law research, complete dockets access, and 24/7 expert support.

Whether a brief is yours or that of the opposing party, Bloomberg Law’s Brief Analyzer is an essential component in the legal research process. It reduces the time spent analyzing a brief, identifying relevant authorities, and preparing a solid response.

To start, navigate to Brief Analyzer available from the Bloomberg Law homepage, within the Litigation Intelligence Center , or from Docket Key search results for briefs.

Bloomberg Law Brief Analyzer tool on litigation intelligence center

[ How to Write a Legal Brief – Learn how to shorten the legal research cycle and give your legal brief a competitive advantage.]

How to optimize your search.

Crafting searches is a critical skill when it comes to legal research. Although many legal research platforms, including Bloomberg Law, offer natural language searching, terms and connectors (also called Boolean) searching is still a vital legal research skill and should be used when searching across court opinions, dockets, Points of Law, and other primary and secondary sources.

When you conduct a natural language search, the search engine applies algorithms to rank your results. Why a certain case is ranked as it is may not be obvious. This makes it harder to interpret whether the search is giving you everything you need. It is also harder to efficiently and effectively manipulate your search terms to zero in on the results you want. Using Boolean searching gives you better control over your search and greater confidence in your results.

The good news? Bloomberg Law does not charge by the search for court opinion searches. If your initial search was much too broad or much too narrow, you do not have to worry about immediately running a new and improved search.

Follow these tips when beginning a search to ensure that you do not miss relevant materials:

[Bloomberg Law subscribers can access a complete checklist of search term best practices . Not a subscriber? Request a Demo .]

Before drafting a motion or brief, search for examples of what firm lawyers filed with the court in similar cases. You can likely find recent examples in your firm’s internal document system or search Bloomberg Law’s dockets. If possible, look for things filed before the same judge so you can get a quick check on rules/procedures to be followed (and by the same partner when possible so you can get an idea of their style preferences).

Careful docket search provides a wealth of information about relevant cases, jurisdictions, judges, and opposing counsel. On Bloomberg Law, type “Dockets Search” in the Go bar or find the dockets search box in the Litigation Intelligence Center .

If you do not know the specific docket number and/or court, use the docket search functionality Docket Key . Select from any of 20 categories, including motions, briefs, and orders, across all 94 federal district courts, to pinpoint the exact filing of choice.

Bloomberg Law Dockets Search feature on a desktop computer screen

Dockets can also help you access lots of information to guide your case strategy. For example, if you are considering filing a particular type of motion, such as a sanctions motion, you can use dockets to help determine how frequently your judge grants sanctions motions. You can also use dockets to see how similar cases before your judge proceeded through discovery.

If you are researching expert witnesses, you can use dockets to help determine if the expert has been recently excluded from a case, or whether their opinion has been limited. If so, this will help you determine whether the expert is a good fit for your case.

Dockets are a powerful research tool that allow you to search across filings to support your argument. Stay apprised of docket updates with the “Create Alert” option on Bloomberg Law.

Writing a research memo? Here’s a how-to guide.

Bloomberg Law subscribers can access our expert-written guide on writing a research memo, authored by Aaron Goodman, Of Counsel at Baker McKenzie.

Not a subscriber? Request a demo

Dive deeper into competitive research.

For even more competitive research insights, dive into Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Analytics – this is available in the Litigation tab on the homepage. Data here helps attorneys develop litigation strategy, predict possible outcomes, and better advise clients.

To start, under Litigation Analytics , leverage the Attorney tab to view case history and preview legal strategies the opposition may practice against you. Also, within Litigation Analytics, use the Court tab to get aggregate motion and appeal outcome rates across all federal courts, with the option to run comparisons across jurisdictions, and filter by company, law firm, and attorney.

Use the Judge tab to glean insights from cited opinions, and past and current decisions by motion and appeal outcomes. Also view litigation analytics in the right rail of court opinions.

Docket search can also offer intel on your opponent. Has your opponent filed similar lawsuits or made similar arguments before? How did those cases pan out? You can learn a lot about an opponent from past appearances in court.

Checking the status of case law is essential in legal research. Rely on Bloomberg Law’s proprietary citator, BCITE. This time-saving tool lets you know if a case is still good law.

Under each court opinion, simply look to the right rail. There, you will see a thumbnail icon for “BCITE Analysis.” Click on the icon, and you will be provided quick links to direct history (opinions that affect or are affected by the outcome of the case at issue); case analysis (citing cases, with filter and search options), table of authorities, and citing documents.

A significant benefit of digital research platforms and analytics is increased efficiency. Modern legal research technology helps attorneys sift through thousands of cases quickly and comprehensively. These products can also help aggregate or summarize data in a way that is more useful and make associations instantaneously.

For example, before litigation analytics were common, a partner may have asked a junior associate to find all summary judgment motions ruled on by a specific judge to determine how often that judge grants or denies them. The attorney could have done so by manually searching over PACER and/or by searching through court opinions, but that would take a long time. Now, Litigation Analytics can aggregate that data and provide an answer in seconds. Understanding that such products exist can be a game changer. Automating parts of the research process frees up time and effort for other activities that benefit the client and makes legal research and writing more efficient.

[Read our article: Six ways legal technology aids your litigation workflow .]

Tools like  Points of Law ,  dockets  and  Brief Analyzer  can also increase efficiency, especially when narrowing your research to confirm that you found everything on point. In the past, attorneys had to spend many hours (and lots of money) running multiple court opinion searches to ensure they did not miss a case on point. Now, there are tools that can dramatically speed up that process. For example, running a search over Points of Law can immediately direct you to other cases that discuss that same legal principle.

However, it’s important to remember that digital research and analytical tools should be seen as enhancing the legal research experience, not displacing the review, analysis, and judgment of an attorney. An attorney uses his or her knowledge of their client, the facts, the precedent, expert opinions, and his or her own experiences to predict the likely result in a given matter. Digital research products enhance this process by providing more data on a wider array of variables so that an attorney can take even more information into consideration.

[Get all your questions answered, request a Bloomberg Law demo , and more.]

Reference Shelf

US Law Week Articles

Texas ag paxton on cusp of historic gop-led vote on impeachment, south carolina’s six-week abortion ban blocked by state court, california ethics group tells judges not to party with lawyers.

case law research paper

How to Research Case Law

Last Updated: August 9, 2020 References

This article was written by Jennifer Mueller, JD . Jennifer Mueller is an in-house legal expert at wikiHow. Jennifer reviews, fact-checks, and evaluates wikiHow's legal content to ensure thoroughness and accuracy. She received her JD from Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2006. This article has been viewed 22,110 times.

U.S. law is more than just statutes passed by legislatures. Appellate courts – including the U.S. Supreme Court – are responsible for interpreting those statutes, and that interpretation becomes part of the law itself. Therefore, to understand a statute and how a court will decide an issue arising under it, you must study written appellate court opinions. Researching case law begins with finding one case that discusses the legal issues you've identified, then using that case to find others that together point to a legal resolution for the problem at hand.

Identifying Legal Issues

Image titled Deal With Legal Matters on a Budget Step 3

Image titled Deal With Legal Matters on a Budget Step 21

Image titled Deal With Legal Matters on a Budget Step 15

Image titled Research Step 23

Finding the Most Relevant Cases

Image titled Create Study Guides Step 10

Image titled Maintain a High GPA in College Step 6

Image titled Find Court Cases Step 3

Image titled Be a Good College Student Step 15

Image titled Do Qualitative Research Step 7

Following the Research Trail

Image titled Do Qualitative Research Step 4

Image titled Study for Five Minutes Before a Test Step 3

Image titled Research Step 19

Image titled Make Money as a College Student Step 40

Expert Q&A

You might also like.

Turn On Your Girlfriend

About this article

Jennifer Mueller, JD

Did this article help you?

Turn On Your Girlfriend

Law Research Paper

This sample law research paper features: 7700 words (approx. 25 pages), an outline, and a bibliography with 25 sources. Browse other research paper examples for more inspiration. If you need a thorough research paper written according to all the academic standards, you can always turn to our experienced writers for help. This is how your paper can get an A! Feel free to contact our writing service for professional assistance. We offer high-quality assignments for reasonable rates.

Introduction

Anthropological foundations of law, ethical foundations of law, characteristics of law, ancient and modern law, law in segmentary societies, law in premodern states, law of the international community.

More Law Research Papers:

Law is a cultural achievement of humankind. On the basis of rules that are typically connected with sanctions, it is meant to prevent or overcome social conflicts. The nature of these rules can generally be distinguished by their purpose: They either serve the purpose of deciding legal cases (rules of decision) or the purpose of conducting a legal process (rules of conduct). The foundation of the rules, too, can vary. Some legal cultures base their rules on (unwritten) traditions (common law), usually replenished with precedents of case decisions by the judge’s dispensation of justice (case law). In contemporary legal systems, however, the foundation of legal decisions is above all provided by the state legislature (statutory law). In modern judicial terms, the sum of legal norms, which forms a more or less coherent legal system, can be described as objective law. The (legally guaranteed) authorizations of the individual member of this legal system (e.g., the citizen), on the other hand, are subjective rights, guaranteed, for instance, in the form of civil rights.

Need a Custom-Written Essay or a Research Paper?

Academic writing, editing, proofreading, and problem solving services.

The social function of preventative conflict avoidance or reliable conflict resolution can be fulfilled, lastingly, only when law is also able to offer criteria in terms of content to justify legal decisions. Since ancient times, law has therefore been characterized not only by its sanctions but also by its reference to justice. At the beginning of Justinian the Great’s Digesta (533 BCE), a collection of the works of Roman legal scholars, it is stated in that respect: “Law is the art of the good and the fair” ( ius est ars aequi et boni [ Digesten, 1.1.1. pr.]). Similar definitions can be found in other legal cultures that have not been influenced by Roman law. Yet law also involves the “authorization to coerce” (Kant, 1996, p. 25), as we learn from Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Both sides, coercion as much as justice, have at all times during the history of humankind decisively influenced the development of law. One essential reason for the continuously tense relationship between these two dimensions of law is the strong correlation between law and human life. Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779–1861), a distinguished German legal scholar and the founder of the so-called Historical School of Law, once noted rightly that law had no intrinsic content; it is directed toward and, at the same time, dependent on the life of human beings. This fact displays the anthropological foundation of every law. Moreover, it bears legal consequences that are concisely expressed in a canon of ancient Roman law: No one can be obligated beyond his or her capabilities ( ultra posse nemo obligatur ). This principle is rooted in the insight that a legal norm that asks too much of an individual is simply unjust.

From the viewpoint of evolutionary biology, the development of law shows itself to be a matter of adjustment to the benefit of our own species’ self-preservation and reproduction. This concept is above all based on the findings of primatology. This science informs about the phylogenetic background of Homo sapiens and allows conclusions to be drawn about the emergence of normativity in human relationships. The phenomenon of reciprocity is of major importance in this context; it can, for instance, be observed in the social behavior of chimpanzees, our closest relatives. To meet the basic challenges of self-preservation and reproduction, chimpanzees live in social groups. The advantages are obvious: The offspring is more effectively protected, and food is more efficiently secured. Our species develops affection for the building of societies, an appetites societas. Not unlike human associations, though, living in groups is never without disadvantages. These occur whenever competition arises within the group in the struggle for scarce supplies that ultimately decide on the individual fate of the group members. Chimpanzees have obviously developed the ability to ensure a regulated exchange of goods among each other. The disposition to share goods among one another considerably depends on whether the “beggar” was, in a reversed situation, also willing to share his food or to provide the “proprietor” with other “services” (e.g., “grooming”). Generosity will generally be answered likewise; parsimony will be socially sanctioned. Chimpanzees appear to have a highly developed long-term memory for social relationships; it lays the foundations for an equipment that stabilizes the social order and that sanctions deviance, for instance, through the building of coalitions. To a certain extent, the success of social associations is the result of “chimpanzee politics” (de Waal, 1982).

But are these observations of altruistic behavior compatible with the genetic self-interest that constitutes the fundamental axiom of evolutionary biology? They are and in two ways: First of all, it should be noted that the thesis of a “selfish gene” (Dawkins, 1989) does not refer to the individual or the population. These are only “agents” of the “victorious” genes, which survive at the expense of the less suitable genes. Biological evolution is genocentric. Natural selection in principle awards features that encourage survival and reproduction—not only of single individuals but also of relatives. This is at least applicable to highly developed creatures in social associations. Here, organized forms of family support have been observed. The basis to this nepotistic altruism is consequently the self-interest of each individual’s genetic programs. Their purpose, the reproduction of genetic information, is achieved through the fitness of the family. Nepotism is oriented toward this fitness.

The self-interest of nepotistic altruism for the family is different from reciprocal altruism, which, under two conditions, can also include nonrelatives: First, in the long run, solidarity must pay off for the individual, for example, when food supply is dependent on good fortune during the hunt. In this case, solidarity serves to diminish the individual risks of life; if there is no shortage in food resources, then solidarity generally vanishes, too. Second, the mechanism of reciprocity must work out. While nepotistic altruism involves the danger of a bad investment, reciprocal altruism involves the danger of an exploitation by “free riders.” In both cases, the problem expands with the size of the group and thus endangers altruistic behavior—in the end, to the disadvantage of everyone.

From the standpoint of evolutionary biology, it is evident that (moral and legal) normativity has biological roots. Norms of reciprocity help to perform the adjustment that could not be performed within the parameters of egoistic behavioral patterns. Reciprocity is the beginning of a moral consciousness that distinguishes between factual and normative behavior. But it requires stabilization by means of specified rules and sanctions. Human ability to establish a legal system and the simultaneous need to live in such a system reveals humanity’s special position in nature. This has been evident since the natural sciences have contributed to the self-enlightenment of humankind: In terms of the objective parameters of natural science, there is not much that could distinguish humans from other life-forms. Subjectively, however, our species can do nothing other than turn itself into the center of its environment; humanity has no alternative but to build its world according to its own criteria. Max Scheler (1874–1928) tried to grasp this situation in his concept of the “openness to the world.” It is meant to denote human independence from organic bondages. Man or woman is instinct driven, but also he or she possesses the ability to say “no” in order to postpone or to sublimate his or her urges. The resulting opportunity and necessity is not merely to live but to lead his or her own life. Like Nietzsche, Arnold Gehlen (1904–1976) regards a human as the “not determined animal.” Man or woman cannot be sure of his or her surroundings; he or she lacks the protective instincts. As a result of his or her biologically deficient vesting, there are no natural habitats; everything and everybody can turn into an enemy. Consequently, a human is a being whose life is constantly at risk. Thus, humans have no choice but to create their own relations to the world and to themselves through active performance. Her or his nature is culture; this is how she or he compensates for her or his “deficient constitution.” And yet woman or man is not only defenseless against her or his environments, but she or he is also dangerous. Undetermined but driven by her or his physical desires, she or he is latently threatened by degeneration. Hence, man or woman not only has to lead his or her life, but he or she also has to be led, namely by institutions. Institutions make up for his or her absent instincts; they support man or woman by obliging him or her to behave in a given way and, at the same time, relieve him or her from the burden of incessant decisions.

Institutions can evolve and persist wherever things that are taken for granted are valued accordingly. The modern world, however, is marked by an increasing absence of customs and by a growing plurality of values. Customs and values as institution-building factors are replaced by law that is in fact free of contents but still has a stabilizing effect. Humanity’s modern world is literally a world of law. The close connection between human nature and human culture, entailed by humankind’s lack of instinct and world-openness (i.e., the idea that humans are not limited by their environment but can transcend it), leaves humankind no choice but to build humanity’s life on law.

Moral and ethical claims of today’s norms have evolved from the social history of humankind. Most notably, this is true of custom. It provides tradition with a generally binding authority to which law, too, was subject for a long time. Old law was good law. Nowadays, it is typically the other way around. Accordingly, a later law overrules an earlier law ( lex posterior derogat legi priori ). In the course of time, law has emancipated itself from customs and has become more independent. Nonetheless, law remains dependent on acceptance, approval, and discernment. The phenomenon of an increasing juridification of social life should not be regarded only as a process of law’s emancipation from ethics and morals. On the contrary, in the question about the right law and about its connection with justice, the bond between law and the prelegal foundations of human social existence recurs.

Juridification is a process that commences whenever social norms lose their effect. Above all, habit and custom belong to the social norms; fashion, too, can be part of it. While habit lives on permanence and repetition, fashion is, and must be, ephemeral in order to consistently reinvent itself. Its aim is disparity; chic and elegance is not for everyone but only for the few. Habits are unspecific in this regard; one has a habit, or one does not. But a particular habit can only rise to a common law if it is shared not only by the individual but also by the majority. In the English language, this is expressed in the differentiation between habit (of the individual) and custom (of the group) (French habitude, coutume; Latin habitus, consuetude ). As opposed to habit, custom, just like the law, claims to be valid for every member of a given group. It is therefore oriented toward equality. Religion constitutes its own category of ethical norms.

The Greek term ethos illustrates the close bond between habit and custom as it is related to “habitation”: One can get accustomed to various habits. However, habit requires more than just a superficial adaptation; namely, it requires a certain inner attitude. From this, a basic attitude can evolve that shows “character.” This, too, is covered by the meaning of ethos. Accordingly, character always has to be formed first. The virtue whose ethos keeps law and ethics together is uprightness. It illuminates the ethical meaning of being right; namely, being right is to strive for the establishment of a system based on law. A dogmatic attitude, however, destroys such an order as it gives the desire to be right precedence over the right itself.

Moreover, it is part of the ethical foundation to give reasons, not only for a court judgment but also for all forms of institutionalized legal decisions. The obligation to state reasons directly results from a particular concept of justice and consequently from an ethical commandment. As per Aristotle ( Nicomachean Ethics, V 3, 1129b), justice is “perfect virtue, though with a qualification, namely that it is displayed toward others.” It is perfect, “because its possessor can practice his virtue toward others and not merely by himself.” For the judge, who can decide in favor of only one party, this means an obligation to state reasons above all toward the unsuccessful party. The winner of a lawsuit does not usually care too much for grounds; thus, the loser will ask for the grounds. Owing to the judge’s commitment to law, these grounds must be deduced from positive law. The reason for the grounds, however, is not of a legal nature but of an ethical one; this is to ensure a continuously peaceful social existence of those who were having a conflict with each other while insisting on their (assumed) legal right. The realization of fair proceedings alone, which allows each side to present their views and to be heard ( audiatur et altera pars ), contributes to this appeasement. A prudent judge will attach less value to the applause of the successful side than to the silence of the unsuccessful one. The procedural law obligates the judge only to the stating of reasons. The quality of these reasons is up to his or her professional ethics. It requires an appropriate translation of the judicial into the layperson’s language and a comprehensive conveying for the unsuccessful side. In some cases, the latent tension becomes tangible between law’s rationality and predictability on the one hand and the respective demands for material justice of all litigants on the other hand. For an appropriate decision, much will then depend on the judge’s ability to meet the ethical foundations of law.

This problem has a long history. Basically, there are still two opposing notions: Legal positivism takes the stand that the legal concept is to be understood as not including moral or ethical elements. Law is regarded as being separated from these values. Following the logic of this separating thesis, law can have any given content. The positivistic legal concept solely depends on whether a law was created in accordance with regulations and whether it is socially effective. Those who, beyond that, require the legal concept to create a just law, follow the tradition of the theory of natural law. They associate law with a claim for correctness in terms of its content that cannot be given up without giving up the legal concept itself.

In the course of time, law has occurred in many places in various shapes. Not only norms have changed and multiplied, but also legal institutions have been extensively transformed. Yet there is no shortage of attempts to define the characteristic element of law. Three approaches are of particular significance.

The first concept holds that law’s characteristic is founded on its abstract rules. This view can advert to a long historical/cultural tradition, such as Hammurabi’s Code (ca. 1760 BCE) or the Roman Twelve Tables of Law (ca. 450 BCE). The theories of natural law have also contributed to this opinion. Through Stoicism, natural law had first found its way into the philosophy of ancient Greece and later into the works of the ruling classes of ancient Rome. Cicero, for instance, adapted the idea that human life is subject to the purpose of a highest law. This legal concept is the starting point for a hierarchy of law, with the three components being eternal law ( lex aeterna ), natural law ( lex naturalis ), and human, or positive law ( lex humana, or lex positiva ). In antiquity, eternal law was understood as unchangeable and inevitably valid for everyone. Positive, or human law, contains all those norms that determine the social life of the respective society. Natural law, in turn, comprises all norms that humans and peoples reasonably share.

The notion of a legal hierarchy has gone through many enduring transformations. Among others are those that were introduced by Christianity, particularly by the influential doctrines of Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). Both do not interpret the lex aeterna as a cosmic principle but rather as the expression of God (there still are disagreements as to whether this must be interpreted as divine reason or divine will). Mutatis mutandis, the concept of a hierarchy, can also be found in modern legal systems. Examples include the precedence of international law over national law, the special status of human rights in democratic states, or the enhancement of the constitution (e.g., by the Supreme Court in the famous decision Maryury v. Madison, 1803) to the “supreme law of the land.”

Modern legal theory has seen many attempts to describe law as a coherent system of norms. The most notable representatives include, among others, John Austin, H. L. A. Hart, Ronald Dworkin, and Hans Kelsen or, more recently, Robert Alexy and Joseph Raz. Within the transatlantic discourse, the theory of Kelsen (1881–1973) has proved particularly influential. The center to his analytical reconstruction of an objective legal system is a norm pyramid: An individual legal norm derives its validity from a higher norm and itself validates a lower-ranking norm. To solve the problem of an infinite regress, Kelsen introduced the so-called hypothetical basic norm. This norm serves as a transcendentallogical condition for the coherence of a legal system. A norm is part of a legal order only when it can be deduced from the basic norm.

A fundamentally different view was held by Eugen Ehrlich (1936), which he also developed through the examination of Kelsen’s “pure theory of law.” According to Ehrlich, it is important to comprehend the “living law.” By this, he understands those rules that the citizens actually comply with. This law had to be differentiated from the “laws in the books,” as well as from laws and their concretion, through legal practice. For all these norms could not force a certain human behavior but are themselves dependent on the effective rules of social behavior. Bronislaw Malinowski has made a similar attempt to define law from the reality of community life and, above all, referred to the obligating power of reciprocity.

The third version sees law as those principles that can be deduced from the decision of legal authorities. Significant preparatory work to this was, among others, produced by Karl N. Llewellyn and E. Adamson Hoebel. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1897) put this concept in a nutshell: “The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law” (p. 461). While in the first version, law is determined by norms and the legal system, in the second version, law is determined by social effectiveness. The former could be termed normativism, the latter vitalism. The third version regards itself as belonging to realism as it defines law according to the actual behavior of authorities. As opposed to the other two approaches, legal disputes become the center of attention. From this perspective, law is different from politics, as well as from customs and morals.

The realistic approach, just as the vitalistic approach, regards law as a social phenomenon. But it is not only the community’s compliance, which this approach examines, but also the realistic approach does not differ from custom. The focus is mainly on the authorities’ actions in case of conflict. These do not perform only a regulating function qua mediator but also offer an orientation for the citizens. Normativism and realism generally agree about the regulating function of law. To realism, it is less a result of norm parameters than it is the task of the institution, which finally has to apply the law to a case. For the obligation of legal application, especially in the light of social changes, the judge needs the faculty of judgment and creativity. However, the judge’s role is usually confined to understanding the social dimensions of a dispute between opponents, to transforming it into a legal relationship, and to settling it by means of law. Lawsuits are about the actual claims of the parties involved as well as the reestablishment of a symmetric legal relationship among them. Advanced social interventions are the responsibility of the government. In modern societies, politics typically makes use of the law to realize its targets. Yet by using the law as an instrument, politics also submits to the legal form that is, above all, the prohibition of arbitrariness (which is guarded by jurisdiction in modern constitutional states, above all by administrative and constitutional courts).

Its connection with authority also distinguishes law from other social behavioral norms, such as customs and morals, whose sanctioning mechanisms are, typically, hardly institutionalized. If and to what degree sanctions occur, in the case of norm violations, are not certain. The authority of law, on the contrary, is decisively based on the certitude that law is also enforced. It otherwise represents dead law. By no means does a sanction always have to imply coercion or physical force. A sanction’s form is not essential but the effective implementation of the decision is. For example, the Inca civilization’s prevailing penalty for community members consisted of corporal punishment, including the death penalty. However, the Inca nobles were punished with public exposure and removal from office, as they feared social death more than physical death. Modern constitutional jurisdiction is another example of effective sanctions: Constitutional courts cannot force the government to comply with their decisions. Finally, it is the court’s authority with regard to constitutional issues that the government submits to. If it does not comply, then the government’s action would most likely result in a bad public reputation for intending to practice unlawful politics in a state based on the rule of law. However, this requires the court to present itself to the public as a reliable guardian of the constitution by making equitable and wise decisions.

Evolution of Law

With the establishment of modern statehood, law changes its character. Ideally and typically, the differences can be described as follows: Prestate societies often aim at solving conflicts by reaching a consensus among the opponents during negotiations. If they fail in this attempt, then physical force is usually applied as a means of self-help. Law in modern societies, on the other hand, provides for judicial proceedings in litigations. In case of need, law is enforced by state power. Modern states can resort to a differentiated system of institutions. On the norm level, law is abstract and impersonal; it is valid for everyone in the same way and it does not regard differences in status or reputation. Thus, individuals have to take responsibility for their actions. He or she knows what to expect when violating a norm. Punishment is based on this transparency and predictability. For what reasons the individuals comply with the rules is insignificant to the law.

This distinction between exterior behaviors and inner motives is largely unknown in prestate systems. In the case of norm violation, the entire person will be regarded, not only his or her actions. Strictly speaking, the individual is not only solely responsible for his or her own behavior but also is part of a family that is just as much affected by the dispute. Every sanction has to bear this in mind. Finally, it is less about a personal punishment than it is about compensation in order to maintain the social system.

Owing to these differences, there is a long history of debates between historians and ethnologists about law as to whether the norms of prestate societies should be regarded as law or customs. By now, the views tend to accept that (in these orders) laws, morals, and customs cannot be reasonably discriminated. These elements, rather, display a process in the course of which the several fields slowly differentiate.

The order of segmentary societies is organized through extraction and kinship. These societies usually consist of small communities (villages, tribes, etc.), which live in separated areas. They lack a central political authority; each community autonomously governs its social life. The regulating norms form a mixture of religion, custom, and law. In hunter-gatherer societies, the need for legal regulations is only very low and primarily occurs in the spheres of matrimony and family. Violations of the incest ban are punished as a severe offence against the community. Adultery, assumed or actual, is among the most prevalent conflicts. Property, on the contrary, is seldom a cause of quarrel. Hardly anyone owns something that would not be owned by the others. There are scarcely incentives for covetousness; probate disputes play no role at all.

The necessity for regulation increases with the change to agriculture and settledness. The population grows and with it the significance of lineages and clans. These are the actual bearers of rights, which now increasingly refer to property and particularly to real estate. The land or the livestock belongs to the clans; they are the owners, but individuals are not. Without their association, the individual is not only poor but also defenseless. In the absence of a state monopoly on force, it is the lineages that guarantee the individual’s security, namely through the threat of a blood vendetta.

To threaten in this manner with a maximum of vengeance follows the principle of deterrence. De-escalation is therefore a major requirement for all sides. There is no norm violation that could justify an endangerment of the community as a whole. A blood feud not only destabilizes the system within but also weakens the community outwardly. Although the individuals may not live in a so-called state of nature, the respective communities do. There is no valid law or custom beyond the community “segment.” In this no-man’s-land, life is, as Thomas Hobbes put it, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. The responsibility to maintain peace within the community is all the higher; law is oriented toward this. In case of a norm violation, it is therefore less relevant to impose sanctions than to compensate for the detriment incurred or to requite in the same way through the ius talionis (“an eye for an eye”). If very serious crimes are committed, then the community as a whole unites against the culprit in order to prevent a spiral of violence. Furthermore, various norms are provided to obviate violence and to secure peace: Among the most famous are the asylum by the leopard-skin priest, purification ceremonies, and negotiations of expiatory payment, and so on.

This kind of self-regulation without political order can be kept alive only within small spaces. With spatial extension, a political form of governance evolves that is in effect founded on the precedence and subordination of lineages and clans. The reasons for these processes can vary, but they mostly lie in the person’s charisma to which certain skills are attributed. The respective clan can turn into a chiefly lineage if it succeeds in connecting the myth of a special governance competence with the myth of a special derivation (of gods or heroes). A chiefdom can comprise multiple levels, each with one hierarchical top (headman, headwoman, chief). The paramount chief is distinguished by a series of privileges to which only he or she has access (tributes, trade with prestigious objects, claims on the prey, etc.). For it is he or she who exclusively possesses direct admission to the gods. Owing to the paramount chief, the gods are well disposed toward the people and present them with fertility, rich harvest, and victory in case of war. It is also the paramount chief who makes the final decision to end disputes. These cases are of particular importance, and that is why his or her judgment usually avoids a distinct decision. The paramount chief, too, is primarily concerned about fathoming out possibilities for reestablishing social peace. To this end, it can now and then be advisable not to make his or her own decisions but to consult the gods directly through oracles or ordeals.

Yet the paramount chief’s status is fragile for three major reasons: His or her competition arises from within his or her own family, as every member of the chiefly lineage is principally able and entitled to take over the rule; although the paramount chief can protect himself or herself from a coup with personal life guards, she or he cannot prevent enemies from having the same guns at their disposal (bow and arrow, spear, and shield cannot be monopolized, but they can be independently produced by anyone); and finally, it is not in his or her hands whether the gods maintain their well-disposed attitude toward her or him. Plagues, crop failures, and other forms of disaster inevitably initiate considerable doubt about his or her rule. Rise and fission of this kind of political rule are very close.

The premodern state differs from segmentary societies and from the chiefdom in its institutionalization of political order. The information and decision-making processes become structured and are organized hierarchically. First and foremost, this is done by the establishment of a bureaucratic administration. The introduction of the written form of communication permits the collecting and processing of larger amounts of information. Archives provide experiences for future decision making, and reforms can be compassed on a grand scale. Information is gathered from bottom to top, but decisions are carried out from top to bottom. This rationalization creates space for delegation and results in a differentiation of politics: It is not only guidance, for it also turns into an organization whose routines ensure the functioning of the political association.

The organization’s effect can be felt in every scope of the state; taxes lose their character of donations, which are connected with the expectation of reciprocation (they become charges, which are mandatory duties for the financing of the state). The level of physical force within the society is lowered; it becomes illegal to take the law into one’s own hands or to feud with another citizen. The state monopolizes the instruments for the use of force, regulates the equipment of the army, supervises the arms production, and arranges for the logistics of the forces. The power to secure peace and order is not anymore in the hands of clans but rather lies in the organizing authority of politics. Lasting changes can also be observed in the field of jurisdiction: The establishment of the written form fundamentally alters the character of law. The gain in clarity is accompanied by a loss of flexibility. This generally results in an enhancement of the written text in law; some states (e.g., imperial China) even cultivate a legalistic tradition. Yet the character of the legal culture also depends on the institutionalization of jurisdiction. In ancient Rome, courts continue to play an important role under the modified conditions of the written form. In the democratic polis of Athens, however, courts are an instrument of self-help for the parties of the litigation; moreover, their character as true mass events (up to 500 judges participate in a usual hearing) necessitates a strict formalism that has not displayed much impact on the development of law contents.

Just as in segmentary societies, the law of premodern states significantly contributes to the preservation of the social order. This order, however, is marked by social differences in status. The chiefdom was already based on relationships of precedence and the subordination of clans; in premodern states, the social stratification increases. Law is primarily a question of status. The upper classes possess exclusive access to public offices and hence to political power. The lower classes, including peasants, tradesmen, and merchants, hardly possess any rights. Slaves are without any rights at all; the homicide of slaves by someone who is not their owner, at the most, results in a responsibility to compensate for the loss. Other parts of the society are also excluded from law, as they are not able to claim their own rights. Among them are mainly women and children but also wards (clients). All of them are subordinate to their protector according to Roman law, the pater familias, or the patron, who represents them before the court or at other institutions. Within this static order, the individual scarcely has opportunities for advancement. One is born into one’s fate, and this fate is cemented by the law. Correspondingly, being marginal is the significance of legislation. Law does not serve to regulate social transformation but rather to secure a social order that is founded on inequality.

Law in Modern States

Caused by dramatic social upheavals, the processes that lead to an increased concentration on lawmaking accelerate during the 16th century. Law is still seen, in general, as an expression of divine will, but as a result of religious division, the certainty about the content of this will begins to dwindle. Rather, this issue becomes the object of a dispute that irrevocably splits the Christians’ unity and leads to the destruction of Europe during the Thirty Years’ War. More and more, the idea prevails (which had already been proclaimed by Bodin, Hobbes, and others) that law alone cannot ensure peace. Peace also requires politics, more specifically, a sovereign power that holds the reins of law and justice in its own hand. Thus, law becomes an object of human creation and an instrument of a constantly growing political will to create. This is the beginning of the politicization of law. From the mid-16th century to the early 19th century, law serves more and more to consolidate the peacekeeping system of the territorial state, to reduce privileges, to control jurisdiction, and to centralize administrative structures. In the course of these developments, legislation continuously increases in importance; as a consequence, the relationship between law and politics begins to shift. Law, formerly an expression of the concept of justice, becomes less important as a binding parameter for political orientation. Whatever remains of the concept of justice is turned into nonbinding natural law, which does not endanger the legislative sovereignty of the ruler nor its peacekeeping, system-securing effect.

With the rise of the bourgeoisie as a political power, the situation changes as was manifested in America’s War of Independence (1775–1783) and in the French Revolution (1789–1799). The claim to power as a divine right is challenged just as vehemently as the state’s unrestricted authority. Instead, all of a sudden, it is a “self-evident” truth “that all men are created equal [and] that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights,” as the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson stated in 1776. The firm belief that society can rule itself for the greater public good is the common core of the different strands of liberalism. To the liberals, law becomes a guarantor of individual liberty, that is, equal rights for everyone and not privileges just for the few. After all, it is the people, the citizens, whose cumulative effort forms the whole of society. Accordingly, people must also be granted the right to political self-determination as put forth by Abbé Sieyès in his famous pamphlet Qu’est-ce que le tiers État? (1789). It has since been the legacy of the Enlightenment era that political power can be justified only when its claim to power is democratically legitimized and legally limited. This is only one element that contributed to the process of the juridification of politics.

The other main element is the constant expansion of legislative activity in response to tremendous social transitions, for the most part caused by the Industrial Revolution. While the growing social demands intensify the political process by increasing the number of political decisions as well as their purview, an internal hierarchy is established within the European legal system. It differentiates between two principal levels of law: statutory law, which is enacted by the legislative power, and constitutional law, which is enacted by the constituent power. Constitutional law provides a regulatory framework for the establishment and purview of statutory law, but it is kept safe from a hasty interference of politics. The creation of a constitution itself differs fundamentally in its historic importance from the everyday passing of laws in a constitutional state. Most states store their own historical “constitutional moment” (Ackerman, 1989) in their collective memory. Furthermore, amending the constitution requires in most countries a much more complicated and consensus-oriented process than changing laws. This internal hierarchy between constitutional law and statutory law enables a mutual dependence of politics and law. It empowers the lawmaker to act politically, swiftly, and effectively in order to change or adapt the law according to his or her own ideas and to even create a completely new legal situation. Nevertheless, he or she must adhere to the constitutional requirements.

The sovereignty of states, which arose from the close connection between politics and law, is also of major importance in international relations. Sovereignty dominated classic international law, which came into being with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Until the beginning of the 20th century, international law was primarily interstate law, resulting from agreements among individual states. Rules and institutions at the international level were subject to the principle of unanimity; nothing could be implemented against the will of a state. In this regard, every state was equal in sovereignty. The sovereignty was primarily documented in the right to wage war ( ius ad bellum ). The disaster of World War I, however, led to a change of views. The League of Nations (1920) was a first attempt to transform the unrestricted right into a partial ban on war. The Briand-Kellogg Pact (1928) went even further and aimed at a general outlawing of war. But not until after World War II was the time ripe for a substantial modification of classic international law: With the Charter of the United Nations (1945), a general prohibition of force has been introduced, complemented by a global obligation to ensure peace. The multitude of transnational players and international organizations has already at the time of the Cold War (with its debilitating consequences primarily for the UN Security Council) resulted in an advancement of international law. It has become an “international law of cooperation” (Friedmann, 1964, p. 251). International human rights are increasingly established as the critical criterion for international politics.

Since the end of the Cold War, the challenges of globalization can no longer be ignored: It is manifest in the daily, global forms of communication (e.g., the Internet) and traffic (e.g., the international employment market); it appears in the form of ecological problems (e.g., climate change), which overtax the individual states as much as economical issues (e.g., unregulated financial markets).

The state’s power is no longer sufficient to protect against threats coming from inside and outside its territory (e.g., international terrorism). As these key words illustrate, the sovereignty of the state is put into question. It once was the expression of the connection between law and politics in a state; now, however, social systems and political fields begin to disengage themselves from statedefined (territorial) frameworks. Politics is increasingly dependent on transnational players, which are organized in networks and equipped with their own negotiating power. Foreign relations are no longer a government’s prerogative.

From this, crucial challenges for international law follow whose further development is part of the paramount tasks of the international community; international law has to enhance and consolidate those processes that stay abreast of the diversification of players as well as of the extension of activity levels (this also includes the divers regional orders as an autonomous level within world politics). This will require a reconsideration of the relationship between universalism and particularism in international law. The crucial question in this regard is, How much legal pluralism is possible, and How much constitutionalization of international law is necessary on the way to an effective legal order that would be worthy of the name “law of mankind”?

On the way to this effective legal order, international law has already partly developed into a regulatory law of the international public order. The sovereignty of the state is no longer an insurmountable barrier toward the international protection of human rights. The international community can and must intervene in case of gross human rights violations. This self-commitment of the international community constitutes a major break in international law. It will succeed in justifying this, though, only if the interventions themselves form an inevitable step toward the juridification of international politics. The guiding principle of legal reason is to exit the state of nature as Immanuel Kant stipulates. And he adds that as long as a free society based on law is not realized, it can, under certain circumstances, be permitted to coerce another person to exit the state of nature and to enter into the civil society organized by the rule of law. The obligation of international law is to clarify the conditions of these permitted compulsory measures. This would be a main contribution to the strengthening of international law’s legitimacy.

Abstractly speaking, the specific function of law is to protect the (normative) structure of expectations within a group against disappointments. This is primarily done by means of sanctions, which are imposed in case of disappointed expectations. At the same time, sanctions serve as incentives for the community members to fulfill the generalized expectations. The prerequisite for a socially effective, or “living” law, is not merely its standardization but also its institutionalization. Both developments are closely connected; they facilitate a division of legal work that is of major importance above all for the modern law. Under the conditions of an increasingly complex society, the uncertainty is growing as to what is expected of the individual and if this expectation is shared by others. Law tends to reduce this uncertainty by providing general rules of conduct, which are directed at everyone. The more abstract the standardization of behavioral rules becomes, the more necessary is the individualization of case decisions by appropriate institutions. The history of law is therefore as much a history of standardization as a history of institutionalization.

The invention of a triangular relationship is of crucial importance for the institutionalization of law. It consists of two conflicting parties and one impartial person, or institution, with the obligation to settle the dispute. The character of the third person can vary (judge, chief, council of elders, etc.), but its function relieves community life in several ways that can ideally and typically be summarized as follows: First, the mediation by a neutral third person represents an alternative to the logic of mutual vengeance. On principal, this contributes to a decline in violence and consequently strengthens a community’s integration capacity. Second, the function of the judge marks the beginning of an institutionalization of social roles that structure the distribution of power within a group. Socially accepted behavior and legally protected expectations connect and stabilize themselves in the respective roles; and the roles themselves forward the anticipation of sanctions and typically increase the self-domestication of the group members. This supports the interplay of leadership and followers and decreases arbitrary behavior on both sides. Third, the repetition of the application of the law and the law enforcement are augmentative, in terms of the reliability of expectations, provided that the dispensation of justice will lead to the same or to very similar results in the concrete case. This incentive can encourage the authority’s self-commitment to precedents. Furthermore, it can be a stimulus to the development of legal equality within a group, for law lives (as opposed to the privilege) not on the exception but on the rule.

Sir Henry Maine (1822–1888) regarded the transformation from law based on privileges to law based on equality as the evolutionary principle that is ultimately decisive for every legal system. His formula “from status to contract” is nowadays regarded with skepticism because of its strong teleological connotations that do not leave much room for cultural diversity. But it still expresses a valid idea: Law displays a tendency toward formalization itself. The exceptions to the rule are also put into a legal form and are, consequently, incorporated by the law. It does not turn blind to the necessity of exceptions; however, as part of legal rules, they require an intense substantiation. The limits are typically reached when the exception is reinterpreted to become the rule. Such cases raise problems of justice that let law appear to be arbitrary and thus illegitimate. According to its own intention, law forms the counterpart to arbitrary decisions as it can otherwise not fulfill its function of protecting expectations even in the case of norm violations.

The problem of arbitrariness illustrates that law’s main function, its protection of expectations, can be concretized and differentiated into a regulating function and a directing function; one is oriented toward stability, the other one toward justice. Both functions are connected: To the same degree to which a political order is based on acceptance by the citizens, the question about the legitimacy of law gains in influence for a system’s stability. Examples of historically far-reaching consequences include the great revolutions of the United States (1776), France (1789), and Germany (1989), a comparatively young example. Below these major caesuras, the pursuit of legitimate law continues. At all times, this has also been a quest for (social) justice and has thus fostered the struggle for law in modern legal systems.

For some, the field of tension between the ideal of legal equality for all citizens and the socioeconomic inequalities in modern societies presents itself as a productive challenge; to others, on the contrary, law is merely an instrument that is supposed to conceal or stabilize social inequalities in the interest of the ruling classes. These differing ideological views explain that, with institutionalization progressing, law is attributed further functions within the political system: on the one side, the function of authorizing political power; on the other side, the function of controlling political power and civilizing it. Historically, the state’s gain in power by the combining of law and politics has evoked countervailing powers that are, nevertheless, dependent on law: Liberalism and constitutionalism see law as a suitable instrument for confining politics’ claim to authority. This balancing of law and politics is based on a constant mutual adjustment that has led to a considerable juridification in all areas of modern social life.

Bibliography:

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER

case law research paper

Business development

Practice management & growth

Corporate & business organization

Legal forms

Legal data & document management

Drafting software, service & guidance

Financial management

Labor, employment & human resources

Law firm marketing

Legal research & guidance

Trial readiness, process & case guidance

Recommended Products

Conduct legal research efficiently and confidently using trusted content, proprietary editorial enhancements, and advanced technology.

Fast track case onboarding and practice with confidence. Tap into a team of experts who create and maintain timely, reliable, and accurate resources so you can jumpstart your work.

A business management tool for legal professionals that automates workflow. Simplify project management, increase profits, and improve client satisfaction.

Tax & Accounting

Audit & accounting.

Data & document management

Estate planning

Financial planning & analysis

Payroll, compensation, pension & benefits

Professional development & education

Tax planning & preparation

Tax research & guidance

A powerful tax and accounting research tool. Get more accurate and efficient results with the power of AI, cognitive computing, and machine learning.

Provides a full line of federal, state, and local programs. Save time with tax planning, preparation, and compliance.

Automate workpaper preparation and eliminate data entry

Trade & Supply

Customs & duties management.

Global trade compliance & management

Product & service classification

Supply chain & procurement technology

Software that keeps supply chain data in one central location. Optimize operations, connect with external partners, create reports and keep inventory accurate.

Automate sales and use tax, GST, and VAT compliance. Consolidate multiple country-specific spreadsheets into a single, customizable solution and improve tax filing and return accuracy.

Risk & Fraud

Fraud prevention & compliance management.

Investigation technology

Search volumes of data with intuitive navigation and simple filtering parameters. Prevent, detect, and investigate crime.

Identify patterns of potentially fraudulent behavior with actionable analytics and protect resources and program integrity.

Analyze data to detect, prevent, and mitigate fraud. Focus investigation resources on the highest risks and protect programs by reducing improper payments.

News & Media

Who we serve.

Content Types

Media Solutions

Featured Products

Shop our latest titles

ProView Quickfinder favorite libraries

NEW RELEASES

FREE TRIALS & DEMOS

JOIN A TR COMMUNITY

case law research paper

How to do legal research in 3 steps

Knowing where to start a difficult legal research project can be a challenge. But if you already understand the basics of legal research, the process can be significantly easier—not to mention quicker.

So, whether you are a student still in law school or a seasoned attorney with years of experience, having solid research skills is crucial to be able to craft a winning argument. This is why it is so important to know how to perform legal research, including where to start and the steps to follow.

Step 1: What is legal research, and where do I start?

Black's law dictionary defines legal research as “[t]he finding and assembling of authorities that bear on a question of law." But what does that actually mean? Essentially, it means that legal research is the process you use to identify and find the laws—including statutes, regulations, and court opinions—that apply to the facts of your case.

In most instances, the purpose of legal research is to find support for a specific legal issue or decision. For example, attorneys must conduct legal research if they need court opinions (that is, case law) to back up a legal argument they are making in a motion or brief filed with the court.

Alternatively, lawyers may need legal research to simply provide clients with accurate legal guidance. And in the case of law students, they often use legal research to complete memos and briefs for class. But these are just a few of the situations in which legal research is necessary.

Key questions to ask yourself when starting legal research

Before you start looking for laws and court opinions, you first need to define the scope of your legal research project. There are several key questions you can use to help do this.

What are the facts?

Always gather the key facts so you know the "who, what, why, when, where, and how" of your case. And take the time to write everything down, especially since you will likely need to include a statement of facts in an eventual filing or brief anyway. Even if you don't think a fact may be relevant now, write it down because it may turn out to be relevant later. These facts will also be helpful when identifying your legal issue.

What is the actual legal issue?

You will never know what to actually research if you don't know what your legal issue is. Does your client need help collecting money from an insurance company following a car accident involving a negligent driver? How about a criminal case involving the exclusion of evidence found during an alleged illegal stop?

No matter the legal research project, you must identify the relevant legal problem as well as the outcome or relief sought. This information will guide your research so you can stay focused and on topic.

What is the relevant jurisdiction?

Don't cast your net too wide when it comes to legal research—meaning, you should focus on the relevant jurisdiction. For example, does your case deal with federal or state law? And if it is state law, which state? You may find a case in California state court that is exactly on point, but it won't be very helpful if your legal project involves New York law.

Where to start legal research: the library or online?

In years past, future attorneys were trained in law school to do their research in the library. But now, pretty much everything from the library—and more—can be found online. And while you can certainly still use the library if you want, you will probably be costing yourself valuable time if you do.

When it comes to online research, some people start with free legal research options, including search engines like Google or Bing. But if you want to make sure your legal research is comprehensive, you will want to use an online research service designed specifically for the law, such as Westlaw . Not only do online solutions like Westlaw have all the legal sources you need, but they also include Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other tools that can help make quick work of your legal research.

Step 2: How to find relevant case law and other primary sources of law

Now that you have gathered the facts and know your legal issue, the next step is knowing what to look for. After all, you will need law to support your legal argument, whether you are providing guidance to a client or writing an internal memo, brief, or some other legal document.

But what type of law do you need? The answer: primary sources of law. Some of the more important types of primary law include:

Searching for primary sources of law

So, if it's primary law you want, it makes sense to begin searching there first, right? Not so fast. While you will need primary sources of law to support your case, in many instances, it is much easier—and a more efficient use of your time—to begin your search within secondary sources such as practice guides, treatises, and legal articles.

Why? Because secondary sources provide you with a thorough overview of legal topics, meaning you don't have to start your research from scratch. After secondary sources, you can move on to primary sources of law.

For example, while no two legal research projects are the same, the order in which you will want to search different types of sources may look something like this:

Keep in mind, though, legal research isn't always a linear process. You may start out going from source to source as outlined above, and then find yourself needing to go back to secondary sources once you have a better grasp of the legal issue. In other instances, you may even find the answer you are looking for in a source not listed above, like a sample brief that was filed with the court by another attorney. Ultimately, you need to go where the information takes you.

Step 3: Make sure you are using “good” law

One of the most important steps with every legal research project is to verify that you are using “good" law—meaning a court hasn't invalidated it or struck it down in some way. After all, it probably won't look good to a judge if you cite a case that has been overruled or you use a statute that has been deemed unconstitutional. It doesn't necessarily mean you can never cite these sources; you just need to take a closer look before you do.

The simplest way to find out if something is still good law is to use a legal tool known as a citator, which will show you subsequent cases that have cited your source as well as any negative history, including if it has been overruled, reversed, questioned, or merely differentiated.

For instance, if a case, statute, or regulation has any negative history—and therefore may no longer be good law—KeyCite, which is the citator on Westlaw, will warn you. Specifically, KeyCite will show a flag or icon at the top of the document along with a little blurb about the negative history. This allows you to quickly know if there may be anything you need to worry about.

Some examples of these flags and icons include:

Another bonus of using a citator like KeyCite is that is also provides a list of other cases that merely cite your source—it can lead to additional sources you previously didn't know about.

Perseverance is key when it comes to legal research

Given that legal research is a complex process, it likely comes as no surprise that this guide cannot provide you with everything you need to know.

There is a reason why there are entire law school courses and countless books focused solely on legal research methodology. In fact, many attorneys will spend their entire careers honing their research skills—and even then, they may not have perfected the process.

So, if you are just beginning, don't get discouraged if you find legal research difficult — almost everyone does at first. With enough time, patience, and dedication, you can master the art of legal research.

Related insights

case law research paper

Make sure the case you want to cite is still ‘good’

case law research paper

Why legislative history matters

case law research paper

Try Westlaw Edge for yourself

IJLLR logo square.PNG

Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research ISSN: 2582-8878 | PIF: 6.605 Indexed at Manupatra, Google Scholar, HeinOnline & ROAD

Open Access Logo

INDIAN JOURNAL OF LAW AND LEGAL RESEARCH

ISSN: 2582-8878 (O)

Subject Area: Law and Related Disciplines

Publication Impact Factor: 6.605

Plagiarism Limit - Upto 25 Percent

Plagiarism Software - Turnitin and Plagiarism X

Publication Frequency - Bi-monthly

CALL FOR PAPERS

The IJLLR is inviting authors across India and the Globe to contribute their pieces of academic writings for publication.  Volume: Volume V Issue II |  Theme: Law & Related Disciplines

Perks:  Certificates of Publication, Certificate of Excellence, Free DOI Link, Internship Opportunities, 48-hour Review Process, Indexed at Google Scholar, HeinOnline, Manupatra, ROAD  & others.

* Verify our Manupatra, Google Scholar & ROAD Indexing by clicking the Buttons given above.

** Do not fall prey to journals making false claims regarding their Indexing at various databases.

case law research paper

IJLLR Journal is an online bi-monthly   journal with 6 Issues per year. The Journal revolves around Socio-legal  topics and is not restricted to any particular field or subject of law. The Journal promotes interdisciplinary research entailing detailed study of law with other disciplines in the contemporary era.

IJLLR aims to provide a platform where everyone related to the field of law can contribute their research work on any topic related to law and help create a quality open-access platform that can be used by anyone to gain or develop their knowledge and expertise in the subject of law.

Provide a detailed conceptualisation of socio-economic phenomenon and its interplay with law and policy-making.

Encourage  interdisciplinary and  comparative research  to develop a holistic and multifaceted approach towards the complex issues of today’s society.

Critically and intellectually engage with contemporary issues and the discourse surrounding them.

Enable the development of legal intellect, critical analysis and quality research by promoting original legal writing. 

PERKS OF GETTING PUBLISHED AT IJLLR

Publication Certificate  - Certificate of publication is given to all the authors published in each issue without any additional cost. The certificate is given to the authors as soon as the publication is live.

Free DOI (Digital Object Identification) - A DOI is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web. A DOI will help your reader easily locate a document from your citation.

Certificate of Excellence - The top 10 authors in each issue are given a Certificate of Excellence for their publication with other prizes.

Indexed:  The Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research is indexed in reputable places like Google Scholar & Manupatra which makes the articles available to a wider community making the research available to all. 

Hard Copy Available: The authors have the choice to get a hard copy of their Publication Certificate/Certificate of Excellence on payment of a minimal fee after their manuscript is published.

No Delays and Timely Process  - The whole review process takes up to 72 hours (1-3 days). The final publication after the payment of the processing fee is done within 24-72 hours (1-3 Working days).

Internship Opportunities: The top authors are provided with internship opportunities.

Chance to be a Student Editor: Students are also provided with an opportunity to work as an editor for the Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research .

TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED ​

The IJLLR Journal invites original, unpublished manuscripts from all academicians, authors, legal professionals and Law students in the following categories:

I. Long Articles (3000-6000 words)

II. Essays/Short Articles (1500-3000 words)

III. Case Notes and Legislative Comments (1200-2500 words)

Submissions in this category are expected to engage with the theme and literature of a particular topic comprehensively. The article must survey current practice in the field, identify any lacunae and offer innovative reassessment along with constructive suggestions. Theoretical pieces are also welcome in this category.

Essays/short articles are more concise in scope and are focused on a particular issue and offer new perspectives and critical insights on the selected topic. They offer clearly identifiable arguments and may provide different ways of conceptualizing the selected issue.

This category is meant for the analysis of any contemporary judicial pronouncement, legislative action, or policy proposal. Notes and Comments must trace the line of cases in which the decision appears and comment on its implications on the evolution of that branch of law. Similarly, a legislative comment or policy proposal must identify the object and expected impact of the legislative action/policy proposal in question.

INDEXING PARTNERS

Manupatra logo.png

Bioethics Research Library

A destination library for bioethics scholars worldwide and an exceptional resource for the entire Georgetown community, the Library is home to the world's largest and most diverse collection of materials on the ethics of health, the environment, and emerging technologies.

A group of people attending a lecture for the Intensive Bioethics Course, with a man standing at the front of a classroom lecturing, slides projected on dual screens behind him

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

Logo

Research Paper Examples on Law

What are the key similarities and differences between the two cases? As a matter of fact, these 2 cases have had a lot in common. In both cases, the presidents George H. W. Bush and Donald Trump were part of the Republican party along with being the supporter of the person who was guilty in the cases. According to the...

Words: 1032 | Pages: 5

Introduction Justice delayed is justice denied is a famous quote by William E. Gladstone. The legal issue identified during the externship was that concerning child custody. Who is legally entitled by the law to have the child? Many litigants resorts in the legal process (court proceedings) to be able to acquire custody of the children but this has been quite...

Words: 2494 | Pages: 11

Abstract Arising from the September 11 attacks on the world trade center and the 2001 anthrax attacks, the USA congress felt there were significant loopholes as far as the national security was concerned and thus rushed to pass various legislations so as to strengthen the united states national security. The US patriot act was therefore passed which allowed for the...

Words: 2106 | Pages: 9

Mental Health In the US there are more than 48 million people suffering from a mental health condition that is almost twenty percent of the total population. The number of people committing suicide is also relatively high with suicide being tenth in the number of causes of death in the US. When one assesses the ages between 15-24 suicide is...

Words: 1403 | Pages: 6

By clicking "Log In", you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We'll occasionally send you account related and promo emails.

Sign Up for your FREE account

Diana from A Research Guide Don't know how to start your paper? Worry no more! Get professional writing assistance from our partner. Click to learn more

logo

My Paper Writer

Read our sample essays and get inspired for your own academic work

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States bestowed upon the US Congress the power to compel private businesses to adhere to Title II of the Civil Rights Act 1964, which prohibits racial discrimination in public places or...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 has helped to improve things on a superficial level, with more legal barriers to white collar crime in place, yet it still lacks the number of staff members required on behalf of the SEC to really regulate the new laws put into place. The...

We will write the topic for you if you can't find it among our "Case Law" samples.

I. Handi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004) Decided on Monday, June 28, 2004 by the United States Supreme Court II. Facts of the Case Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen, was apprehended by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. The government had reason to believe Hamdi...

Cruz’s article, “Defending U.S. Sovereignty, Separation of Powers, and Federalism in Medellin v. Texas” sought to describe the underlying legal ramifications of the Medellin v. Texas case. The case, which served as a seminal case regarding the clarification of the powers of influence of external judicial agencies on domestic court...

Conclusion A legal contract is an agreement between two parties, which helps in creating standards and enforceable obligations. Several elements should be present to ensure that the deal is binding between the two parties. They include the offer, acceptance, mutual assent, consideration, capacity, and legality. II. Elements of a Contract...

Terms & Conditions Loyalty Program Privacy Policy Money-Back Policy

Copyright © 2013- 2023 - MyPaperWriter.com

logo

Top 170 Unique Law Research Topics For Academic Writing

Table of Contents

If you are a law student, then obviously as a part of your studies you must write an excellent academic paper on any top law research topics. Right now, do you want to write a brilliant law research paper? Are you searching for the best law research topic ideas? If yes, then continue reading this blog post and get interesting law topics for your academic writing.

Law Research Paper Writing

A law research paper is a type of research paper that focuses on any legal topic in the world. The legal topics are nothing but the topic that deals with the legal issues that are resolved in the court.

In general, every country will have its own legal regulations and policies. More commonly, the basic rights and humanity will be the same for all the countries in the world, but specifically, you need to consider the cultural and historical peculiarities of a country while writing the law research paper.

Remember, the law is a sensitive subject and hence, when writing legal research papers, utmost care should be given. You shouldn’t add too much philosophy to it. Your research paper should answer your law essay topics properly with pure black and white facts.

Law Research Topics

You may think that writing a law research paper is easy. But actually, it is not. For writing an intense legal research paper, you must have a unique legal research topic. Particularly,when writing law papers, you should first research and find the legal questions relevant to your topic, analyze the various legal precedents and present the answer for your legal question in the form of a memo by properly citing all the sources you have used for references.

Tips for Selecting a Law Research Topic

If you want to write a law research paper, then a good law research topic is what you need. Basically, the law is a complex subject, and hence choosing the right research topic from them is challenging. While selecting the legal research topic, be sure to keep the following tips in mind.

Law Research Paper Topic Ideas

Law is a popular discipline among humanitarian sciences that have a wide range of research areas. Some common law research areas include business law, commercial law, environmental law, international law, medical law, constitutional law, cyber law, family law and so on.

List of Law Research Topics Ideas

As the law is a broad subject with endlesslaw research topics, it might be difficult for you to choose the most interesting one from them. So, to make things easier, we have sorted different categories of law and listed some outstanding law research topics for you.

Have a look at the below-mentioned list of law research paper topic ideas and identify aprofound legal research topic of your choice.

Business Law Research Topics

Commercial Law Research Topics

Constitutional Law Research Topics

Criminal Law Research Topics

Read more: Criminal Justice Research Topics Idea for students

Research Topics on Family Law

Cyber Law Research Topics

Read more: Interesting Cybercrime Research Topics To Deal With your paper

Law Research Topics on Environmental Law

Employment Law Research Topics

Law Research Topics on Intellectual Property

International Law Research Topics

Law Research Topics

Medical Law Research Topics

 Research Topics in Medical Law

Wrapping Up

In order to get top grades for your law research paper, a peculiar law research topic is mainly needed. By choosing a topic from the list of unique legal research topics mentioned in this blog post, you can write a top-quality legal research paper that will make your work stand out in the crowd.

In case you find it difficult to write a legal research paper, then immediately reach out to us for professional Law assignment help . We have a team of well-experienced academic writers who are experts in the field of law to assist you in completing your law research paper on any impressive law research paper topics as per requirements. Quickly place your order by writing your requirements to us and get a high-quality, original law research paper beyond your expectations.

case law research paper

Related Post

Research Proposal

Learn How to Write a Research Proposal

Write an Autobiography

An Absolute Guide on How to Write an Autobiography

Literature Review

Learn How To Write A Literature Review From Scratch

About author.

' src=

Jacob Smith

I am an Academic Writer and have affection to share my knowledge through posts’. I do not feel tiredness while research and analyzing the things. Sometime, I write down hundred of research topics as per the students requirements. I want to share solution oriented content to the students.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

235 Captivating World History Topics 2023

170 excellent ap research topics that will boost your scores, 150 impressive funny speech topics and ideas to consider, top 120 geology research topics and ideas to consider, 170 top trending group discussion topics and ideas, 180 fascinating entrepreneur research topics to focus on, list of amazing essay hook examples, learn how to avoid hasty generalization in your writing, 210 great religious research paper topics that will boost your academic scores, how to focus on reading 15 effective tips for better concentration, get help instantly.

Raise Your Grades with Assignment Help Pro

IMAGES

  1. FREE 9+ Sample Case Analysis Templates in MS Word

    case law research paper

  2. Law Research Paper Format : 38 Free Mla Format Templates (+Mla Essay

    case law research paper

  3. Legal Research Methodology

    case law research paper

  4. Best legal case study example by robert hook

    case law research paper

  5. FREE 10+ Legal Research Form and Samples in PDF

    case law research paper

  6. Legal Research Paper / How To Write A Law Research Paper Tips From

    case law research paper

VIDEO

  1. #Audit Cops Have Discretion; Las Vegas, Nevada. #firstamendment Watch till the end!

  2. Green & Neieve Half Pint Copper Meets @DeleteLawz1984

  3. Legal Studies Essay Structure Tips from a State Ranker

  4. CCTL seminar on Perceiving Law without Colonialism

  5. Researching Cases, Part 5: Using Citators in Legal Research

  6. Verify That Your Case Law Is Still Good Law. Shepardize It. See How This Works. Watch This Video

COMMENTS

  1. Legal Research Strategy

    Case Basics In many areas, finding relevant caselaw will comprise a significant part of your research. This Is particularly true in legal areas that rely heavily on common law principles. Caselaw Basics Watch on Running Time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds. Unpublished Cases Up to 86% of federal case opinions are unpublished.

  2. Introduction

    (202) 662-9140 Request a Research Consultation Case Law Research Tutorial Update History Revised 4/22 (CMC) Updated 10/22 (MK) Next: Print Case Reporters >> Last Updated: Jan 25, 2023 1:49 PM https://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/cases

  3. Home

    Case Law and Court Documents Federal case law and court documents are often available freely online, particularly recently decided cases. Check the website of the deciding court for digital copies of their cases. In addition, the following resources provide free case law. Caselaw Access Project

  4. Case-LEG :: SSRN

    Journal of Law, Economics and Policy, Vol. 17.2; Law & Economics Center at George Mason University Scalia Law School Research Paper Series No. 22-022; Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2021-14 Number of pages: 47 Posted 27 Oct 2021

  5. Free Legal Research Sites

    Case Law Access Project (Harvard Law) Provides access to all U.S. official published case law from 1658 to June 2018. FindLaw for Legal Professionals (Thomson Reuters) Includes case law, case summaries, statutes, legal search engine, legal news, RSS court updates, and practice information.

  6. How to Conduct Legal Research and Analysis

    Legal research often involves case law research, which is the practice of identifying and interpreting the most relevant cases concerning the topic at issue. Legal research can also involve a deep dive into a judge's past rulings or opposing counsel's record of success.

  7. Writing a Law School Paper Prof. Chris Wold (Last revised: Oct. 2019

    2. Case notes. An article that describes a single case and then critiques it is likely to be fairly obvious, even if it's novel and useful; and it doesn't show off your skills at research and at tying together threads from different contexts. If you got your topic from a particular case, keep it; but don't focus on the case, focus on the

  8. LSN Research Paper Series :: SSRN

    University of Alabama School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series. University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series. University of Baltimore School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series. University of California Law, San Francisco Legal Studies Research Paper Series.

  9. How to Research Case Law: 13 Steps (with Pictures)

    Researching case law begins with finding one case that discusses the legal issues you've identified, then using that case to find others that together point to a legal resolution for the problem at hand. Part 1 Identifying Legal Issues 1 Evaluate the facts.

  10. SEPs Infringement and Competition Law Defence in German Case Law

    The paper maintains that the Federal Court's rulings in Einwand have aligned German case law with the Huawei framework and that the attention devoted in German case law to the implementer's obligations is consistent with the principles set out by the CJEU. ... SEPs Infringement and Competition Law Defence in German Case Law (May 10, 2023 ...

  11. Citing Cases

    Table 1: A list of (1) reporters* and reporter abbreviations, (2) courts and court abbreviations, and (3) preferred sources to cite for federal courts and each state's courts. Table 6: Abbreviations for terms used in case names (e.g., America [n] = Am.) Table 7: Abbreviations for court names that you would use in the event a court abbreviation ...

  12. 100 Law Research Paper Topics Ideas

    What Is a Law Research Paper? ⚖️ List of 100 Law Research Paper Topics 💰 Business Law Topics for Research Paper 📖 Constitutional Law Research Paper Topics 📜 Criminal Law Essay Topics 💻 Cyber Law Paper Topics 📕 Law Enforcement Paper Topics 🌐 International Law Topics for Research ♻️ Environmental Law Topics for a Research

  13. Law Research Paper

    This sample law research paper features: 7700 words (approx. 25 pages), an outline, and a bibliography with 25 sources. Browse other research paper examplesfor more inspiration. If you need a thorough research paper written according to all the academic standards, you can always turn to our experienced writers for help.

  14. A Helpful Guide on Writing a Law Research Paper

    Research is a great legal experience, and, moreover, is a starting point of every lawyer's career. Most studies show that legal research skills are the first requirement on the employer's list. As legal research can seem a real conundrum at first, this law research paper writing guide may help to shed some light on it.

  15. Rethinking Penn Central

    Pacific Legal Foundation seeks papers for a research roundtable on the landmark regulatory takings case, Penn Central Transportation Company v.City of New York, to be held in October 2023.. Please submit a brief proposal that describes your thesis and how your paper will contribute to the legal discussion regarding how to fix or replace the Penn Central regulatory takings test.

  16. The basics of legal research in 3 steps

    Essentially, it means that legal research is the process you use to identify and find the laws—including statutes, regulations, and court opinions—that apply to the facts of your case. In most instances, the purpose of legal research is to find support for a specific legal issue or decision.

  17. Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research

    IJLLR Journal is an online bi-monthly journal with 6 Issues per year. The Journal revolves around Socio-legal topics and is not restricted to any particular field or subject of law. The Journal promotes interdisciplinary research entailing detailed study of law with other disciplines in the contemporary era.

  18. Bioethics Research Library

    Bioethics Research Library. A destination library for bioethics scholars worldwide and an exceptional resource for the entire Georgetown community, the Library is home to the world's largest and most diverse collection of materials on the ethics of health, the environment, and emerging technologies. Intensive Bioethics Course information.

  19. Research Paper Examples on Law

    Research Paper Examples on Law Research Paper Examples on Law Kavanaugh's Case Vs. Clarence's Case What are the key similarities and differences between the two cases? As a matter of fact, these 2 cases have had a lot in common.

  20. Case Law Papers

    Case Law 36 Views Hamdi v. Rumsfeld I. Handi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004) Decided on Monday, June 28, 2004 by the United States Supreme Court II. Facts of the Case Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen, was apprehended by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. The government had reason to believe Hamdi... Read More 501 words|

  21. Research Guides: India Law Research: India Law Research

    For example, if you would like to browse the older treatises about the criminal law of India in our collection, do this: 1. Go to https://hollis.harvard.edu/. 2. Above the search box, click STARTS WITH/BROWSE. 3. In the Browse by drop-down menu, click Call Number - Other. 4. In the search box, enter IN 980

  22. Top 170 Unique Law Research Topics For Academic Writing

    A law research paper is a type of research paper that focuses on any legal topic in the world. The legal topics are nothing but the topic that deals with the legal issues that are resolved in the court. In general, every country will have its own legal regulations and policies.

  23. International Law of the Sea: An Overlook and Case Study

    The key objective of this piece of academic research is to demonstrate a brief overview of the international law of the sea with a special emphasize on the sources and legal framework of this law ...