Introduction

A secondary source, also known as a "secondary authority," is defined by what it is not: it is not primary law. In other words, it includes everything but primary law. This large category includes treatises, legal encyclopedias, American Law Reports, law reviews and periodical indexes, Restatements of the Law, Uniform Laws, news sources, formbooks, and more. For beginning and seasoned researchers alike, secondary sources provide the foundation for finding, analyzing, and applying the law, as well as voluminous citations to primary law and other secondary sources.

1. Treatises

Treatises
There are several types of treatises targeting different audiences. Treatises provide extensive and detailed explanations, analyses, criticisms and overviews of legal topics by legal scholars and practitioners in narrative form. Less formal or scholarly treatises designed as study aids for law students are referred to as "hornbooks" and "nutshells." Hornbooks and nutshells explain the "black letter law" and review basic legal concepts from first year law courses such as Contracts. Advanced course topics such as International Law are also covered. Treatises, hornbooks and nutshells differ in their levels of detail, with treatises providing the most detail and extensive footnotes and nutshells using a no-frills approach.

Popular and heavily used treatises are kept on reserve. To find treatises on a topic, use the online catalog or browse the shelves in the appropriate subject area. For a list of the best treatises for your courses, go to the Law Library home page, click on Finding the Law / Guides by Topic / Treatises, Hornbooks, & Nutshells.

LEXIS: Begin at the Search page. Using Option 1 B find a source, type "treatise" or the title of a specific treatise in the search box. Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES, select Secondary Legal / Area of Law Treatises.

WESTLAW: Using Search These Databases, type in "treatises" and select a title from the list. Or from the Directory, select Topical Materials by Area of Practice. Then select a topic, and click on Forms, Treatises, CLEs and other Practice Material.

BENDER.COM: At http://www.bender.com, select "Authority On Demand" / "Internet Access for Law Schools." An alphabetical list of hundreds of legal treatises published by Bender is presented. You need to be on a computer recognized as a law school IP address to use bender.com treatises.

2. Legal Encyclopedias

Legal Encyclopedias
Legal encyclopedias provide articles on "black letter" law arranged by subject area. The subject entries are arranged alphabetically and provide citations and cross references to primary and secondary legal materials. American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur) and Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS) are the two major national encyclopedias. Fifteen states publish state encyclopedias, including New York with New York Jurisprudence 2d. CJS embraces a comprehensive approach to collecting information than does AmJur, which is based on selective references to primary and secondary materials. Use the Index at the end of each set to identify useful articles. Legal encyclopedias are updated by pocket parts or supplements.

CJS and AmJur are in the Reading Room, Alcove 46. New York Jurisprudence 2d is located in the New York collection in the Reading Room, Alcove 43.

ONLINE

To find AmJur, begin at the SEARCH page. Using Option 1-FIND A SOURCE, type in American Jurisprudence . Using Option 2- EXPLORE SOURCES, select Secondary Legal / American Jurisprudence 2d. To find New York Jurisprudence 2d, type the title in Option 1 or select Secondary Legal from Option 2 and then Individual State Jurisprudence.

WESTLAW: Portions of CJS (insurance, federal tax, and war and national defense) are available. Type Corpus Juris in the Search these databases box. Or from the Directory, select Forms, Treatises, CLEs and Other Practice Materials.

To find AmJur or NY Jurisprudence 2d, follow the above instructions substituting "AMJUR" or "NYJUR" for "CJS."

This unique research tool combines features of primary and secondary sources. In the print version, an illustrative case is published to accompany the main event: the ALR annotation, which is an encyclopedic essay on a narrow topic of federal or state law. On Lexis and Westlaw, only the annotations are included in the ALR databases. If you find an ALR annotation on a case similar to yours, you will be rewarded with a body of legal scholarship that has been researched, synthesized, and organized. Each ALR annotation presents a cohesive picture of a particular area of the law in all jurisdictions of the U.S. that have considered it. One unified Index enables searching for the 2d-5^th series, and the federal series. There is also an ALR digest that classifies all cases cited in the ALR series.

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ONLINE

LEXIS: To find ALR in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1--FIND A SOURCE, type in "American Law Reports" or "ALR". Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES, choose Secondary Legal / American Law Reports 2d, 3d, 4^th, 5^th, ALRFED & L.Ed.2d.

WESTLAW: Enter "ALR" in Search these databases box. Or from the Directory, select Forms, Treatises, CLEs and Other Practice Materials from the Directory and find ALR under Texts and Treatises

4. Law Reviews, Law Journals and Legal Newspapers

Legal scholarship is unique in that a large percentage of articles are published in student-edited periodicals called law reviews or law journals. Law reviews generally publish three types of articles: (1) features by professors, judges and legal scholars; (2) comments, lengthy annotated articles on topical areas of law by senior editors, and (3) case notes, shorter articles analyzing a particular judicial decision written by junior editors. Law reviews provide commentary, criticism and analysis on current legal issues and often suggest possible resolutions. All law review articles are heavily footnoted and point the reader to many other research sources.

Some law journals are published by organizations devoted to exploring specific legal issues, such as environmental law or juvenile crime. The articles in these journals tend to be peer-reviewed and contain numerous references in footnotes. Another class of legal journals is published by bar associations. Bar journals are more akin to commercial magazines with staff written articles and advertising; they are informative, but not scholarly.

There are a few national legal newspapers that cover news of interest to legal professionals such as trends in the law or law practice management. Several large cities, such as Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, host daily legal newspapers with information about current events and recent opinions.

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Recent law reviews and law journals are unbound and kept on reserve. Bound volumes are shelved in the stacks. Five years of law reviews are also kept in Special Reserve. Most law reviews published by U.S. law schools are on the first floor at KF 10, generally arranged alphabetically by title. Find the exact call number for a law review with a title search in the online catalog.

ONLINE

PRINTLEXIS: To find law reviews in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1--FIND A SOURCE, type in the name of the law review. Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES select Secondary Legal then Law Reviews & Journals. See Individual Law Reviews & Journals for a complete title list. Use Law Reviews Combined to search all journals simultaneously.

WESTLAW: Type the name of the law review you want in Search these databases. Or in the Directory, select Law Reviews, Bar Journals & Legal Periodicals for a complete title list. Use JLR (Journals & Law Reviews Combined) to search all journals simultaneously.

Legal Periodical Indexes

Legal Periodical Indexes Legal periodical indexes are to legal articles what online catalogs are to legal books. Indexes are used to quickly and efficiently find articles on a certain topic or by a certain author. Print indexes are important because they are the only source to identify articles written before 1980. Online indexes provide links to the full text of articles, or to abstracts, or simply provide citations from about 1980 forward.

Legal Resource Index (LRI)

The Legal Resource Index covers over 850 periodicals from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia, including law reviews, bar association journals, and legal newspapers. Dates of coverage vary depending on choice of format. The LRI appears in the following formats:

_ Current Law Index is in print volumes (K33 .C97) on the Index Table in the Reading Room. This source does not contain legal newspapers.

_ The LegalTrac CD-ROM computer in the Reading Room, Alcove 45-46. This source provides citations with only a few abstracts and fewer full text links.

_ LEXIS: To find LRI in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1--FIND A SOURCE, type Legal Resource Index. Using Option 2-- EXPLORE SOURCES select Secondary Legal then Annotations & Indexes.

_ WESTLAW: Enter LRI in the Search these databases box. Or from the Directory list select Law Reviews, Bar Journals & Legal Periodicals / Periodical Indexes.

Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP)

ILP contains citations to over 600 legal journals, yearbooks, law review, institutes, bar association organs, and book reviews. It also contains government publications from the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Dates of coverage vary depending on choice of format. The ILP is not on Lexis or Westlaw, but is available in the following formats:

_ Index to Legal Periodicals is in print volumes (KF8. I292) on the Index Table in the Reading Room. Citations from 1888 forward.

_ The Cornell University Library Gateway at http://library.cornell.edu, select "e-Reference Collection". Enter "Index to Legal Periodicals" as database name.

Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP)

Published weekly, CILP indexes approximately 475 law school reviews and legal journals, and also provides tables of contents of all journals indexed. This current-awareness service is available 4-6 weeks before ILP and LRI are published, making it valuable for its timeliness. The following sources provide CILP:

_ Current Index to Legal Periodicals print volumes (KF8 .W31) on the Index Table in the Reading Room (current 6 months only).

_ LEXIS: CILP is not currently available.

_ WESTLAW: Enter CILP in the Search these databases box. Or from the Directory select Law Reviews, Bar Journals & Legal Periodicals then Periodical Indexes.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

This index covers over 450 multilingual legal periodicals and book reviews outside of the United States, the U.K., Canada, and Australia. It provides analyses of legal essays, Festschriften, Melanges, and congress reports. Coverage includes comparative, municipal, and public and private international law. Dates of coverage vary depending on choice of format. The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals is not available on Lexis or Westlaw but does appear in the following formats:

_ Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals in print (K33 .I38) on the Index Table in the Reading Room (citations from 1960 forward).

_ The Cornell University Library Gateway at http://library.cornell.edu, select "e-Reference Collection". Enter "Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals" as database name.

5. Restatements of Law

Restatements of Law
The American Law Institute publishes definitive statements of settled aspects of the law. These "restatements" of the law first appeared in the early 1900s in an effort to bring coherence to the confusing and contradictory American common law. Restatements are not primary law but are highly regarded by courts and legislatures and are often adopted as law. Examples of Restatements include the Restatement of Torts, Restatement of Contracts, and Restatement of Property. Each restatement has gone through several public drafts and at least one series. Newer titles include the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers and Restatement of Torts, Products Liability.

The main volumes of a Restatement are comprised of numbered sections that contain the "black letter law" or "rule" and comments by the reporter (author). The appendix to a Restatement contains annotations of cases for the sections and is updated by pocket part. Some Restatements have indexes in separate volumes; others include the index after the final section of black letter law in the main volume.

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Restatements on all topics are shelved together and can be found in the Reading Room, Alcove 48. Additional copies are available on request from Special Reserve.

ONLINE

LEXIS: To find Restatements in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1-- FIND A SOURCE, type in "Restatement." Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES, select Secondary Legal then Individual Restatements of Law. You could also select Restatement Rules and Restatement Annotated Case Citations to search a combined library.

WESTLAW: Enter "REST" or "restatement" in the search These databases box and choose the specific title from the list. Or from the Directory, select Forms, Treatises, CLEs and Practice Materials then Restatements of the Law & Uniform Laws.

6. Uniform Laws and Model Acts

Uniform Laws and Model Acts
Uniform laws and Model Acts, like Restatements of Law, are products of committees that hope to achieve a level of uniformity among the states in certain areas of law. A uniform law has no legal authority unless it is expressly adopted by a state legislature. Many states have enacted all or parts of the Uniform Commercial Code, perhaps the best-known uniform law. Other uniform laws deal with a variety of issues such as child custody, probate, consumer credit, crime, and contribution among tortfeasors. Case annotations for the uniform law and comments from the drafters are helpful for researchers.

Uniform Laws Annotated collects all the uniform laws, lists the states that have adopted them and refers to cases and other sources of interest to the researcher. There are two copies located in the Reading Room, Alcove 46-47.

ONLINELEXIS: To find Uniform Laws in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1--FIND A SOURCE, type in the title of a specific uniform law. Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES, select Secondary Legal and Model Acts & Uniform Laws.

WESTLAW: Enter "uniform law" or "model law" or "[name of law]" in the Search these databases box. Or from the Directory, select Forms, Treatises, CLEs and Practice Materials, then Restatements of the Law & Uniform Laws.

7. News

News
Sometimes an issue is so recent that a researcher must look to news sources for information. LexisNexis and Westlaw news databases cover global newspapers, wire services, and many hometown dailies. Keyword searching of these databases makes older news stories accessible, but dates of coverage vary widely. Some large newspapers have web sites and maintain some archival issues online and all old issues in microfiche. Most news organizations, such as CNN or the television network news organizations, have web sites for current events.

The Law Library does not collect print newspapers, other than a few legal newspapers. Check the online catalog to see if a particular newspaper is available at Cornell.

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ONLINELEXIS: To find news libraries in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1--FIND A SOURCE, type in "newspapers." Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES, select News.

WESTLAW: Enter ALLNEWS and ALLNEWSPLUS (news and wire reports) or NP (newspapers) in the search these databases box. Or from the directory select Westnews to find a source. Each state database also contains News, Newspapers, and Periodicals link.

8. Formbooks

Formbooks
Lawyers long ago discovered that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and rely on standardized forms for many pleadings and transactions. General formbooks exist as well as forms for each jurisdiction. Seeing the form, the commentary on the form and in some publications, annotated cases about the forms, helps researchers determine if all elements of the pleading or transaction are present. Examples of pleading formbooks are West’s Federal Forms, Federal Procedural Forms, Lawyers’ Edition and AmJur Pleading and Practice. Examples of transactional formbooks are West’s Legal Forms, and AmJur Legal Forms. New York attorneys can use McKinney’s Forms, Benders Forms or New York Forms. Formbooks, like other print materials, are updated by pocket parts and are indexed in a separate volume by subject.

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PRINTTransactional formbooks are located in the Reading Room, Alcove 46.

Procedural formbooks are located in the Reading Room, Alcove 47.

New York formbooks are located in the Reading Room, Alcove 43.

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ONLINELEXIS: To find forms in LOOK FOR A SOURCE using Option 1--FIND A SOURCE, type in forms or [jurisdiction] forms or [area of law] forms. Using Option 2--EXPLORE SOURCES, select Secondary Legal then Matthew Bender Treatises & Materials.

WESTLAW: Type FORMS in the Search these databases box. AmJur Pleading and Practice and AmJur Legal Forms can be found by entering the full title or AMJUR-PP and AMJUR-LF respectively in the search box. For West=s Federal Forms type FEDFORMS in the search box. For NY forms, enter NY forms in the search box. Or from the Directory, select Forms, Treatises, CLEs and Other Practice Material and choose Forms. Topic specific and state specific forms can be found under the Topical Materials by Area of Practice headings and jurisdictional headings respectively.