Secondary sources are so called because they are a second hand account of
law. Examples are textbooks, articles and encyclopedias.
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Secondary sources perform several tasks that make them highly valuable for
learning law
51
and working with law: they organise, summarise, explain,
criticise and analyse law.
52
To put the point simply, it is generally more
efficient to use a textbook as the first point of entry into an area of law (and
for much later work as well) rather than to distil the law from primary sources,
namely the relevant statutes and cases.
3
Tertiary Sources
Introduction
‘Tertiary sources of law’ is a useful if not totally apt expression coined to
describe other material that lawyers use apart from primary and secondary
sources. There are two broad types –
material related to law and working
documents.
Material Related to Law
Some publications are related to law. An example is a report by a law reform
commission that analyses and proposes possible changes to the law. Another
example is a text that examines the history, operation or policy of some part of
the law.
Working Documents
Tertiary sources also include documents such as opinions, pleadings,
contracts, wills and affidavits that lawyers generate in the course of working
with law. Most law firms will store these types of documents as precedents in
a central depository to enable other lawyers to access them when required.
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Feldman (1989) discusses the general nature of legal scholarship.
McDowell (1990) discusses the audience for it. Wilson (1987) discusses English
legal scholarship, Tushnet (1997) discusses United States legal scholarship, while
Chesterman and Weisbrot (1987) discuss Australian legal scholarship. Young
(1993) discusses the extra curial writing of judges. See also Tushnet (1987).
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In this regard it is worth noting a related point that law can also be taught
through literature –
see Turner (1985). A good example is the role of the comic
opera writer Gilbert as a legal satirist – see Turner (1987-89).
52
An example is given above in discussion of common law where there is an
illustration of how a legal text would describe a common law rule.
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