Introduction

A primal and very important concept in the law and, consquently, legal research is the difference between primary and secondary authority. Briefly, primary authorities are those documents that contain a statement of the law itself. These could be judicial decisions or statutes. These are the materials that are vital when referencing previous law for a current issue or case.

Secondary sources are any material that analyze, abstract, and/or comment on the substance of the primary sources. These materials are useful for locating and understanding primary sources.

Primary Authority - Example Sources

• Bench opinions - These are the judicial opinions as exactly expressed by the judge of a court at the timea decision is made on a case.
• Slip opinions - These are the second versions of an opinion, but the only difference is that they may contain corrections that did not appear in the bench opinion.
• Advance sheets - These are pamphlets which contain the full text of a court decision. They are arranged chronologically, as they are issued that way.
• Reporters - These volumes consist of the advance sheets of several cases combined with alphabetical, subject, and word and phrase indexes.
• Digests - Summaries of cases.
• Law Reports - Collections of case reports

Secondary Authority - Example Sources

• Legal encyclopedia
• Legal dictionaries
• Law reviews
• Treatises, hornbooks, and nutshells