E-NOTES

Class : BBALL.B 1st Semester

Paper Code : BBALLB 101
Subject : Legal Method

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UNIT IV

LEGAL WRITING AND RESEARCH

STATUTE &
A statute is a written law passed by a legislature on the state or federal level.
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Statutes set forth general propositions of law that courts apply to specific
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situations. A statute may forbid a certain act, direct a certain act, make a
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declaration, or set forth governmental mechanisms to aid society.

A statute begins as a bill proposed or sponsored by a legislator. If the bill survives t

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he legislative committee process and is approved by both houses of the legislature,

t he bill becomes law when it is signed by the executive officer (the president on
the federal level or the governor on the state level). When a bill becomes law, the
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various provisions in the bill are called statutes. The term statute signifies the
elevation o f a bill from legislative proposal to law. State and federal statutes are
compiled in statutory codes that group the statutes by subject. These codes are
published in book form and are available at law libraries.

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Difference between a bill and an act
Legislative proposals are brought before either house of the Parliament of India in

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the form of a bill. A bill is the draft of a legislative proposal, which, when passed
by both houses of Parliament and assented to by the President, becomes an act of

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Parliament. As soon as the bill has been framed, it has to be published in the
newspapers and the general public is asked to comment in a democratic manner.
The bill may then be amended to incorporate the public opinion in a constructive

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manner and then may be introduced in the Parliament by ministers or private
members. The former are called government bills and the latter, private member's
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bill. Bills may also be classified as public bills and private bills. A public bill is
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one referring to a matter applying to the public in general, whereas a private bill
relates to a particular person or corporation or institution. The Orphanages and
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Charitable Homes Bill or the Muslim Waqfs Bills are examples of private bills. A
bill introduced in Lok Sabha pending for any reason lapses when the Lok Sabha is
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dissolved. However, bills in the Rajya Sabha never lapse, and can remain pending
for decades.
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Every bill to be taken up by the Rajya Sabha shall be examined for its
constitutional validity by the vice president for not violating the constitutional
stipulations/procedures. Vice president should not permit constitutional
amendments to be passed under ordinary legislation. Article 71(1) of the
constitution permits Supreme Court to inquire and decide on constitutional
violation committed by the vice president. Any citizen of India who has violated
constitution shall not be eligible to continue as a parliament member or eligible to
be elected as parliament member. Supreme court can remove the vice president for
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the electoral malpractices or upon being not eligible to be a Rajya Sabha member
under the Representation of the People Act, 1951

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How a bill becomes an act in Parliament
First reading

The legislative process begins with the introduction of a bill in either house of
Parliament, i.e. the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. A bill can be introduced either
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by a minister or by a private member. It is necessary for a member-in-charge of the
bill to ask for the leave of the house to introduce the bill. If leave is granted by the
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house, the bill is introduced. This stage is known as the first reading of the bill. If
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the motion for leave to introduce a bill is opposed, the speaker may, in his
discretion, allow a brief explanatory statement to be made by the member who
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opposes the motion and the member-in-charge who moved the motion.
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Reference of bill to the standing committee

After a bill has been introduced, the presiding officer of the concerned house
(speaker of the Lok Sabha or the chairman of the Rajya Sabha or anyone acting on
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their behalf) can refer the bill to the concerned standing committee for examination
and to prepare a report thereon. If a bill is referred to a standing committee, the
committee shall consider the general principles and clauses of the bill referred to
them and make a report thereon. The committee can also seek expert opinion or the
public opinion of those interested in the measure. After the bill has thus been
considered, the committee submits its report to the house. The report of the
committee, being of persuasive value, shall be treated as considered advice

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Second reading

The second reading consists of consideration of the bill which occurs in two stages.

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First stage

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The first stage consists of general discussion on the bill as a whole when the
principle underlying the bill is discussed. At this stage it is open to the house to
refer the bill to a select committee of the house or a joint committee of the two

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houses or to circulate it for the purpose of eliciting opinion thereon or to straight
away take it into consideration.
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If a bill is referred to a select or joint committee, the committee considers the bill
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clause-by-clause just as the house does. Amendments can be moved to the various
clauses by members of the committee. The committee can also take evidence of
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associations, public bodies or experts who are interested in the measure. After the
bill has thus been considered, the committee submits its report to the house which
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considers the bill again as reported by the committee. If a bill is circulated for the
purpose of eliciting public opinion thereon, such opinions are obtained through the
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governments of the states and union territories. Opinions so received are laid on
the table of the house and the next motion in regard to the bill must be for its
reference to a select/joint committee. It is not ordinarily permissible at this stage to
move the motion for consideration of the bill.

Second stage

The second stage of the second reading consists of clause-by-clause consideration

of the bill as introduced or as reported by select or joint committee. Discussion
takes place on each clause of the bill and amendments to clauses can be moved at
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this stage. Amendments to a clause have been moved but not withdrawn are put to
the vote of the house before the relevant clause is disposed of by the house. The

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amendments become part of the bill if they are accepted by a majority of members
present and voting. After the clauses, the schedules if any, clause 1, the enacting

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formula and the long title of the bill have been adopted by the house, the second
reading is deemed to be over.[10]

Third and the last reading

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Thereafter, the member-in-charge can move that the bill be passed. This stage is
known as the third reading of the bill. At this stage the debate is confined to
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arguments either in support or rejection of the bill without referring to the details
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thereof further than that are absolutely necessary. Only formal, verbal or
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consequential amendments are allowed to be moved at this stage. In passing an

ordinary bill, a simple majority of members present and voting is necessary. But in
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the case of a bill to amend the Constitution, a majority of the total membership of
the house and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present and
voting is required in each house of Parliament. If the number of votes in favour and
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against the bill are tied, then the presiding officer of the concerned house can cast
his/her vote, referred to as a casting vote right.

Passing a bill

If at any time during a meeting of a house there is no quorum, which is a minimum

of one-tenth of the total strength of a house, it is the duty of the chairman or
speaker, or person acting as such, either to adjourn the house or to suspend the
meeting until the quorum is met. The bills taken up under legislative power of

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Parliament are treated as passed provided majority of members present at that time
approved the bill either by voting or voice vote. It is also right of a member to

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demand voting instead of voice vote. In case of passing a constitutional
amendment bill, two-thirds of the total members present and voted in favor of the

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bill with more than half of the total membership of a house present and voting in
all, is required according to Article 368 of the Constitution.

Bill in the other house

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After the bill is passed by one house of Parliament, it is sent to the other house for
concurrence with a message to that effect, and there also it goes through the stages
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described above, except the introduction stage. If a bill passed by one house is
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amended by the other house, it is sent back to the originating house for approval. If
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the originating house does not agree with the amendments, it will be that the two
houses have disagreed. The other house may keep a money bill for 14 days and an
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ordinary bill for three months without passing (or rejecting) it. If it fails to return
the bill within the fixed time, the bill is deemed to be passed by both the houses
and is sent for the approval of the President.
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At the state level, it is not mandatory that a bill shall be passed by the legislative
council (if existing) per Articles 196 to 199. There is no provision of conducting
joint session of both houses to pass a bill.

Joint session of both houses

In case of a deadlock between the two houses or in a case where more than six
months lapse in the other house, the President may summon, though is not bound
to, a joint session of the two houses which is presided over by the Speaker of the
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Lok Sabha and the deadlock is resolved by simple majority. To date, only three
bills - the Dowry Prohibition Act (1961), the Banking Service Commission Repeal

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Bill (1978) and the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (2002) have been passed
at joint sessions.

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President's approval

When a bill has been passed by both houses following the described process, it is
sent to the President for his approval per Article 111. The President can assent or
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withhold his assent to a bill or he can return a bill, other than a money bill which is
recommended by the President himself to the houses. However Article 255 says
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that prior recommendation of the President or the Governor of a state wherever
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stipulated is not compulsory for an act of Parliament or of the legislature of a state

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but the final consent of the President or Governor is mandatory.

For example, if an appeals court holds that witness testimony on memory

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recovered d through therapy is not admissible at trial, that decision will become the
rule for similar cases within the appeals court's jurisdiction. The decision will
remain law until the court reverses itself or is reversed by a higher court, or until
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the state or federal l legislature passes a statute that overrides the judicial decision.
If the courts strike d own a statute and the legislature passes a similar statute, the
courts may have atop opportunity to declare the new statute unconstitutional. This
cycle can be repeated over and over if legislature’s continually test the
constitutional limits on their law making powers.

Judicial opinions also provide legal authority in cases that are not covered by
statute e. Legislatures have not passed statutes that govern every conceivable

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dispute. Furthermore, the language contained in statutes does not cover every
possible situation. Statutes may be written in broad terms, and judicial opinions
must interpret the language of relevant statute according to the facts of the case at

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hand. Regulations passed by administrative agencies also fill in statutory gaps, and

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courts occasionally are called on to interpret regulations as well as statutes.

Courts tend to follow a few general rules in determining the meaning or scope of a

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statute. If a statute does not provide satisfactory definitions of ambiguous terms,
courts must interpret the words or phrases according to ordinary rules of grammar
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and dictionary definitions. If a word or phrase is technical or legal, it is interpreted
within the context of the statute. For example, the term interest can refer to a
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monetary charge or ownership of property. If the term interest appears in the

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context of a statute on real estate ownership, a court will construe the word to
mean property ownership. Previous interpretations of similar statutes are also
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helpful in determining a statute's meaning.

Statutes are not static and irreversible. A statute may be changed or repealed by the
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lawmaking body that enacted it, or it may be overturned by a court. A statute may l
apse, or terminates, under the terms of the statute itself or under legislative rules
that automatically terminate statutes unless they are reapproved before a certain
amount t of time has passed.

Although most legal disputes are covered at least in part by statutes, TORT and
contract disputes are exceptions, in that they are largely governed by case law.
Criminal Law, patent law, tax law, Property

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Law, and Bankruptcy law are among the areas of law that are covered first and
foremost by statute.

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REPORTS

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A law report is a record of a judicial decision on a point of law which sets a
precedent.

Not all decisions taken in a court of law set a precedent, however interesting they
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may be in terms of the facts of the case or its consequences. A decision is only
reportable if lays down a new principle of law, or changes or clarifies the existing
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law.
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It is therefore important to distinguish between those cases which do indeed lay

down, change or clarify the law, and which therefore need to be reported, and those
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which don’t; and ensure that any report of a reportable case clearly states all the
relevant information so that it can be relied upon by students, teachers,
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practitioners and judges as an accurate and authoritative statement of the principle

of law (the “ratio decidendi”) on which the case was decided.
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Note: A judgment transcript is not a law report!

However important the case, the transcript of a judgment does not have the same
value, as a record of the decision contained in it, as a full text law report. Where,
therefore, a law report is available, particularly where the case has been reported in
one of the official series, The Law Reports, published by ICLR, it must be cited
and referred to in that version in preference for any other: see Practice Direction
(Citation of Authorities) [2012] 1 WLR 780.
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Different types of law report

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Law reports fall into two broad types.

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Full text law reports incorporate the full judgment(s) given by the court, together
with a summary of the case known as the head note and a number of other
elements.

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Summary reports, also known as case summaries, digests, case notes etc, consist of
summaries or abridgements of the judgment, and are presented in a less formal
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way than a full text law report.
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For obvious reasons, full text reports enjoy higher status than summary reports and
should be cited in preference for them. The function of summary reports is either to
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alert practitioners and students to cases which may not merit reporting in full, or to
act as an early warning system in advance of the full report which for obvious
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reasons may take longer to write, edit and publish.

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Where a case is not reported in a full text law report, but a transcript of the
judgment is available, this may be cited in conjunction with a summary report.
However, the combination of a summary report and a transcript does not enjoy the
same status as a full text law report where one is available, for reasons which will
become clear once one appreciates the amount of careful editorial work that goes
into preparing the full report.

JOURNALS

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Law Journal Definition:

A scholarly or academic publication presenting commentary of emerging or topical

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developments in the law, and often specializing in a particular area of the law or

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legal information specific to a jurisdiction.

Also known as:

legal periodicals;
legal journals; or
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law review.

The information is presented in the form of essays or articles.

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Law journals are usually published by one of the following sources:

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Those edited and published by students at a law school such as the Harvard
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Law Review;
Those edited and published by a commercial law publisher; and
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Those edited and published by a law association such as a bar association or

law society, such as The Advocate (published by the Vancouver Bar
Association).

BILLS-
A bill is proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill
does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases,
approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is
called an act of the legislature, or a statute.
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The term bill is primarily used in Anglophone nations. In the United Kingdom,
the parts of a bill are known as clauses, until it has become an act of parliament,

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from which time the parts of the law are known as sections. Bills are generally

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considered through a number of readings. This refers to the historic practice of the
clerical officers of the legislature reading the contents of a bill to the legislature.
While the bill is no longer read, the motions on the bill still refer to this practice.

In the British/Westminster system, a bill is read the first time when it is introduced.
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This is accompanied by an order that the bill be printed and considered again. At
the second reading the general merits of the bill are considered – it is out of order
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to criticise a bill at this stage for technical defects in drafting. After the second
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reading the bill is referred to a committee, which considers the bill line by line
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proposing amendments. The committee reports to the legislature, at which stage

further amendments are proposed. Finally a third reading debate at which the bill
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as amended is considered in its entirety. In a bicameral legislature the process is

repeated in the other house, before the Bill is submitted to the executive for
approval. Where a piece of primary legislation is termed an act, the process of a
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bill becoming law may be termed enactment. Once a bill is passed by the
legislature, it may automatically become law, or it may need further approval, in
which case enactment may be effected by the approver's signature or proclamation.

ACT

Laws are actually rules and guidelines that are set up by the social institutions to
govern behavior. These laws are made by government officials. Laws must be
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obeyed by all. Laws set out standards, procedures and principles that must be
followed. Acts can be classified as two things: A document that records a fact,
something said or something done. It can also be known as a law or statue that

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has been enacted by the government. Acts are basically rules that have noted

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down a piece of paper. Acts, if passed, are then turned into laws.

CASE ANALYSIS AND BRIEFING ( CITATION & BIBLIOGRAPHY)

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Legal writing is a type of technical writing used by lawyers, judges,
legislators, and others in law to express legal analysis and legal rights and
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duties.
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In many legal settings specialized forms of written communication are required. In

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many others, writing is the medium in which a lawyer must express their analysis
of an issue and seek to persuade others on their clients' behalf. Any legal
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document must be concise, clear, and conform to the objective standards that have
evolved in the legal profession.
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Authority

Legal writing places heavy reliance on authority. In most legal writing, the writer
must back up assertions and statements with citations to authority. This is
accomplished by a unique and complicated citation system, unlike that used in
any other genre of writing. The standard methods for American legal citation are
defined by two competing rulebooks: the ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional
System of Citation and The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. Different
methods may be used in other countries.
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Precedent

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Legal writing values precedent, as distinct from authority. Precedent means the

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way things have been done before. For example, a lawyer who must prepare a
contract and who has prepared a similar contract before will often re-use, with
limited changes, the old contract for the new occasion. Or a lawyer who has filed
a successful motion to dismiss a lawsuit may use the same or a very similar form
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of motion again in another case, and so on. Many lawyers use and re-use written
documents in this way and call these re-usable documents templates or, less
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commonly, forms.
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Vocabulary
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Legal writing extensively uses technical terminology that can be categorized

in four categories: Specialized words and phrases unique to law, e.g., tort, fee
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simple, and notation.

Quotidian words having different meanings in law, e.g., action (lawsuit),

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consideration (support for a promise), execute (to sign to effect), and party
(a principal in a lawsuit).

Archaic vocabulary: legal writing employs many old words and phrases that were
formerly quotidian language, but today exist mostly or only in law, dating from
the 16th century; English examples are herein, hereto, hereby, heretofore,
herewith, whereby, and wherefore (pronominal adverbs); said and such (as
adjectives).
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Loan words and phrases from other languages: In English, this includes terms
derived from French (estoppel, laches, and voir dire) and Latin (certiorari, habeas

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corpus,prima facie, inter alia, mens rea, sub judice) and are not italicised as

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English legal language, as would be foreign words in mainstream English writing.

Formality

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These features tend to make legal writing formal. This formality can take the form
of long sentences, complex constructions, archaic and hyper-formal vocabulary,
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and a focus on content to the exclusion of reader needs. Some of this formality in
legal writing is necessary and desirable, given the importance of some legal
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documents and the seriousness of the circumstances in which some legal

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documents are used. Yet not all formality in legal writing is justified. To the
extent that formality produces opacity and imprecision, it is undesirable. To the
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extent that formality hinders reader comprehension, it is less desirable. In

particular, when legal content must be conveyed to nonlawyers, formality should
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give way to clear communication.

What is crucial in setting the level of formality in any legal document is assessing
the needs and expectations of the audience. For example, an appellate brief to the
highest court in your jurisdiction calls for a formal style—this shows proper
respect for the court and for the legal matter at issue. An interoffice legal
memorandum to a supervisor can probably be less formal—though not
colloquial—because it is an in-house decision-making tool, not a court

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document. And an email message to a friend and client, updating the status of a
legal matter, is appropriately informal.

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Transaction documents—legal drafting—fall on a similar continuum. A 150-

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page merger agreement between two large corporations, in which both sides are
represented by counsel, will be highly formal—and should also be accurate,
precise, and airtight (features not always compatible with high formality). A
commercial lease for a small company using a small office space will likely be
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much shorter and will require less complexity, but may still be somewhat formal.
But a proxy statement allowing the members of a neighborhood association to
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designate their voting preferences for the next board meeting ought to be as plain
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as can be. If informality aids that goal, it is justified.

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Legal writing should be understood in a such way that acknowledges the

technical complexity inherent in law and the justified formality that complexity
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often requires, but with an emphasis on clarity, simplicity, and directness. Yet
many practicing lawyers, busy as they are with deadlines and heavy workloads,
often resort to a template-based, outdated, hyperformal writing style in both
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analytical and transactional documents. This is understandable, but it

sometimes unfortunately perpetuates an unnecessarily formal legal writing
style.

Categories of legal writing

Legal writing is of two, broad categories: (i) legal analysis and (ii) legal drafting.

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Legal analysis is two-fold: (1) predictive analysis, and (2) persuasive analysis. In
the most law schools students must learn legal writing; the courses focus on: (1)
predictive analysis, i.e., an outcome-predicting memorandum (positive or

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negative) of a given action for the attorney's client; and (2) persuasive analysis,

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e.g., motions and briefs. Although not as widely taught in law schools, legal
drafting courses exist; other types of legal writing concentrate upon writing
appeals or on interdisciplinary aspects of persuasion.

Predictive legal analysis

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The legal memorandum is the most common type of predictive legal analysis; it
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may include the client letter or legal opinion. The legal memorandum predicts
the outcome of a legal question by analyzing the authorities governing the
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question
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and the relevant facts that gave rise to the legal question. It explains and applies
the authorities in predicting an outcome, and ends with advice and
recommendations. The legal memorandum also serves as record of the research
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done for a given legal question. Traditionally, and to meet the legal reader's
expectations, it is formally organized and written.

Persuasive legal analysis

The persuasive document, a motion or a brief, attempts to persuade a deciding

authority to favorably decide the dispute for the author's client. Motions and
briefs are usually submitted to judges, but also to mediators, arbitrators, and

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others. In addition a persuasive letter may attempt to persuade the dispute's
opposing party.

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Persuasive writing is the most rhetorically stylized. So although a brief states the

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legal issues, describes authorities, and applies authorities to the question—as does
a memorandum—the brief's application portion is framed as an argument. The
author argues for one approach to resolving the legal matter and does not present
a neutral analysis.
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The drafting of legal documents, such as contracts and wills, is yet another type of
legal writing. Guides are available to aid a lawyer in preparing the documents but
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a unique application of the "form" to the facts of the situation is often required.
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Poor drafting can lead to unnecessary litigation and otherwise injure the interests
of a client.
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Legal drafting
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Legal drafting creates binding, legal text. It includes enacted law like statutes,
rules, and regulations; contracts (private and public); personal legal documents
like wills and trusts; and public legal documents like notices and instructions.
Legal drafting requires no legal authority citation, and generally is written without
a stylized voice.

Legal writing faces a trade off in attempting to cover all possible contingencies
while remaining reasonably brief. Legalese is characterized by a shift in priority

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towards the former of these concerns. For example, legalese commonly uses
doublets and triplets of words (e.g., "null and void" and "dispute, controversy,
or claim") which may appear redundant or unnecessary to laymen, but to a

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lawyer might reflect an important reference to distinct legal concepts.

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Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always
the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric

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expression (e.g. [Newell84]) embedded in the body of an intellectual work that
denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the
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purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others to the topic of
discussion at the spot where the citation appears. Generally the combination of
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both the in-body citation and the bibliographic entry constitutes what is commonly
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thought of as a citation (whereas bibliographic entries by themselves are not).

References to single, machine-readable assertions in electronic scientific articles
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are known as nano publications, a form of micro attribution.

Citation has several important purposes: to uphold intellectual honesty, to attribute

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prior or unoriginal work and ideas to the correct sources, to allow the reader to
determine independently whether the referenced material supports the author's
argument in the claimed way, and to help the reader gauge the strength and
validity of the material the author has used.

The forms of citations generally subscribe to one of the generally accepted

citations systems, such as the Oxford, Harvard, MLA, American Sociological
Association (ASA), American Psychological Association (APA), and other

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citations systems, as their syntactic conventions are widely known and easily
interpreted by readers. Each of these citation systems has its respective
advantages and disadvantages relative to the trade-offs of being informative (but

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not too disruptive) and thus are chosen relative to the needs of the type of

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publication being crafted. Editors will often specify the citation system to use.

Bibliographies, and other list-like compilations of references, are generally not

considered citations because they do not fulfil the true spirit of the term:
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deliberate acknowledgement by other authors of the priority of one's ideas.
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Concepts
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A bibliographic citation is a reference to a book, article, web page, or other

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published item. Citations should supply sufficient detail to identify the item
uniquely. Different citation systems and styles are used in scientific citation,
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legal citation, prior art, and the arts and the humanities.

Citation content
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Citation content can vary depending on the type of source and may include:

Book: author(s), book title, publisher, date of publication, and page number(s) if
appropriate.

Journal: author(s), article title, journal title, date of publication, and

page number(s).

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Newspaper: author(s), article title, name of newspaper, section title and
page number(s) if desired, date of publication.

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Web site: author(s), article and publication title where appropriate, as well as a

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URL, and a date when the site was accessed.

Interview: name of interviewee, interview descriptor (ex. personal interview)

and date of interview.

Unique identifiers
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Along with information such as author(s), date of publication, title and page
numbers, citations may also include unique identifiers depending on the type
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of work being referred to.

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Citations of books may include an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

Specific volumes, articles or other identifiable parts of a periodical, may have an

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associated Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI).

Electronic documents may have a digital object identifier (DOI).

Biomedical research articles may have a PubMed Identifier (PMID).

A citation number, used in some citation systems, is a number or symbol added

inline and usually in superscript, to refer readers to a footnote or endnote that cites
the source. In other citation systems, an inline parenthetical reference is used

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rather than a citation number, with limited information such as the author's last
name, year of publication, and page number referenced; a full identification of the
source will then appear in an appended bibliography.

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Citation systems

Broadly speaking, there are two citation systems:

Note systems
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Note systems involve the use of sequential numbers in the text which refer to
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either footnotes (notes at the end of the page) or endnotes (a note on a separate
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page at the end of the paper) which gives the source detail. The notes system may
or may not require a full bibliography, depending on whether the writer has used a
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full note form or a shortened note form.

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For example, an excerpt from the text of a paper using a notes system without
a full bibliography could look like this:
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"The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance."

The note, located either at the foot of the page (footnote) or at the end of the
paper (endnote) would look like this:

1. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying (New York: Macmillan, 1969) 45–
60.

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In a paper which contains a full bibliography, the shortened note could look
like this:

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1. Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying 45–60.

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and the bibliography entry, which would be required with a shortened note,
would look like this:

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Legal citation is the practice of crediting and referring to authoritative documents
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and sources. The most common sources of authority cited are court decisions
(cases), statutes, regulations, government documents, treaties, and scholarly
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writing. Typically, a proper legal citation will inform the reader about a source's
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authority, how strongly it supports the writer's proposition, its age, and other,
relevant information. This is an example citation to a United States Supreme
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Court court case

This citation gives helpful information about the cited authority to the reader.
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The names of the parties are Griswold and Connecticut. Generally, the name of
the plaintiff (or, on appeal, petitioner) appears first, whereas the name of the
defendant (or, on appeal, respondent) appears second. Thus, the case is Griswold
v. Connecticut.

The case is reported in volume 381 of the United States Reports (abbreviated
"U.S."). The case begins on page 479 of that volume of the reporter. The

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authoritative supporting material for the writer's proposition is on page 480.
The reference to page 480 is referred to as a "pin cite" or "pinpoint".

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The Supreme Court decided the case. Because the U.S. Reports publish only

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cases that the Supreme Court decides, the court deciding the case may be inferred
from the reporter.

The authority supports the proposition directly because it is not qualified with a
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signal. If it had offered only indirect or inferential support for the proposition,
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the author should have preceded the cite with a qualifying signal such as see.
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Legal citation analysis

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During a legal proceeding, a 'legal citation analysis' - i.e. using citation analysis
technique for analyzing legal documents - facilitates the better understanding of
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the inter-related regulatory compliance documents by the exploration the citations

that connect provisions to other provisions within the same document or between
different documents. Legal citation analysis uses a citation graph extracted from a
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regulatory document, which could supplement E-discovery - a process that

leverages on technological innovations in big data analytics.

KINDS OF LEGAL RESEACH:

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, research means ‘a

careful study of a subject, especially to find or discover new facts about it’.
Research therefore involves gathering information for a purpose, and it is the

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purpose that usually determines the type of research undertaken and how it is
conducted. Legal research would, in a similar vein, involve the collection of legal
materials for the purpose of discovering new facts that would contribute to the

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body of knowledge in a legal field or subject. Legal research is defined by legal

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studies since it is the materials that are used in legal studies and the topics that are

taught and learnt that determine legal research. In a similar light, legal studies are
also defined by legal research as the discoveries of legal research shape legal
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studies. Research is usually a daunting task, and the style adopted may differ
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according to the educational system, the supervisor, or even the researcher, as, like
many other tasks, developing a personal style is the most important factor to
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enjoying the process and achieving desired results.

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Doctrinal Research: It is a theoretical research and it is pure in nature.

Conventional legal sources like reports of committees, legal history, judicial
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pronouncements, facts passed by legislature and parliament etc are the sources of
doctrinal legal research.
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Non-Doctrinal Research: It is also known as empirical research or socio-legal

research and relies on experience and observation. It is a trans-boundary research
but its foundation is on doctrinal research only. Non-doctrinal legal research tries
to investigate through empirical data, how law and legal institutions affect human
attitudes and what impact on society they create.

MEANING OF RESEARCH:-

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RESEARCH IS A CAREFUL, CRITICAL INQUIRY OR EXPLANATION IN
SEEKING FACTS OR PRINCIPLES, DILIGENT INVESTIGATION IN ORDER
TO ASCERTAIN SOMETHING.

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REDMAN & MARY:- “RESEARCH IS SYSTEMATISED EFFORTS TO GAIN
KNOWLEDGE.”

CHARACTERSTICS OF LEGAL RESEARCH

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• It deals with the social & behavioral phenomena.
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• It is carried on both for discovering new legal facts and verification of the
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old ones.
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• It tries to establish casual connection between various human activities.

• It tries to give solutions of legal problems.

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DOCTRINAL RESEARCH
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• It means a research that has been carried out on a legal proposition or

propositions by way of analyzing the existing statutory provisions and cases
by applying the reasoning power.

• Acc. To S.N.Jain, doctrinal research involves analysis of case law,

arranging, ordering & systematizing legal propositions and study of legal
institutions through legal reasoning or rational deduction

CHARACTERISTICS
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• The study is mainly based on propositions.

• The sources of data for a doctrinal researcher are the reports of Appellate

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Courts and conventional legal theory.

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• It is concerned with the particular doctrine of law says and not as what made
the authority to say so or what has been the impact of that say.
DEFECTS
• Over emphasis on appellate court decisions.
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• The inefficiency of the researcher to distinguish clearly whether and when
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he intends to describe past legal behavior or to predict future legal behavior
to prescribe future legal behavior. Lack of basic conception of legal research
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is the reason of this defect.

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EMPERICAL RESEARCH
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• EMPIRIC MEANS ‘RELYING SOLELY ON OBSERVATION AND

EXPERIMENT, NOT THEORY.’
• The Empirical Research is carried out by collecting and gathering data or
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information by a first hand study into the universe.

• Also called Fact Research.

CHARACTERISTICS
• Tries to find out the impact of non-legal events upon the legal decision
process.

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• It seeks to identify &appraise the degree of variables which influence the
outcome &legal decision-making

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• It tries to find out the effect of each decision on people and society as such.

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LIMITATIONS
• Lack of financial support
• Other disciplines had shed away from the study of legal order
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• Contributions of legal professors are very less due to their pre-occupation
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with their profession.
• Legal researchers lack a tradition that enables them to strengthen the
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empirical research.
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• Lack of training in the use of techniques.

• Unfavorable & arrangement attitude towards it.
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• Use of qualitative measurement techniques are very difficult to understand

by legal researchers.
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