1588195100law 101 PDF

LAW 101
LEGAL METHOD
MATRIC NO: 18/SMS13/002
SOURCES OF LAW
The source of law means the origin from which the system derives its validity, be it the
electorate, a special body, the general will or the will of a dictator. It also means the historical
origin of a rule of law. Statutes books, law reports and textbooks are sources of law in any
legal system.
SECONDARY SOURCES OF LAW

Secondary sources of law in Nigeria are:
1 Legal journals
2 Interviews, periodicals and newspaper
3 Foreign materials (treaties and conventions)
4 Dictionaries
5 Theses, Dissertations and technical reports
6 Legal textbooks and monographs
7 Government publications
1. LEGAL JOURNALS
Legal journals are the most current sources of law because of their frequency of
publications, some being monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or bi-annual. They contain scholarly
articles, commentaries, notes and comments on current legal problems.
In most cases, some of the contents of legal textbooks might have been published or
serialized in journals earlier on. Legal journals that are of general nature may contain articles
reflecting various subject background and topical issues in law.
Like the law reports, legal periodicals may be broadly categorized into foreign and local
titles. Periodicals oftentimes contain book reviews, seminars, and roundtable and conference
announcements. Some of the standard foreign law journals as secondary source of law
include, the Cambridge law journal; (C.L.J.), Harvard Law Journal (H.L.J.), Yale Law
Journal (Y.L.J), Harvard law review (H.L.R).
Remarkable advancement has been recorded in the area of local periodicals publishing. Some
typical examples of academic and professional local journals as secondary source of law
include the Nigerian Law Journal (N.L.J), The Nigerian Journal of Contemporary Law
(N.Y.C.L).
2. INTERVIEWS, PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS

Interviews granted by legal writers and jurists can also serve as a secondary source of
law. This is because these legal luminaries are regarded as “authorities” and therefore their
speeches or legal letters written by them are persuasive and form secondary source of law.
Law libraries subscribe to newspapers and magazines not for the mere purpose of general
reading. A deliberate effort is usually made by the law librarian to cut feature articles and
notable news items and clip them neatly for storage. Such materials are thus arranged under
broad subject headings in alphabetical sequence for easy retrieval. Newspaper and magazine
clippings provide the most accessible current sources of research materials and therefore form
secondary source of law.
Articles in newspapers often cover wide areas of subject matters spanning every conceivable
field of human endeavor.
The only major snag about newspaper clippings as source of law is that the facts
contained in a particular report or write-up may need to be further clarified or verified
possibly from the writer or the maker for authenticity. This is not saying that newspaper
articles and reports are not dependable as sources of law. This fact notwithstanding,
newspapers are veritable sources of quick information on topical issues, which would take
some time to be covered by authoritative textbooks.
3. FOREIGN MATERIAL
Foreign materials as secondary source of law are those materials published outside the
jurisdiction of Nigeria. They include treaties and conventions. These treaties and conventions
consist of the various international agreements and understandings concluded by countries
amongst themselves. Where the law-making bodies of the subscribing nations have ratified
such treaties and conventions, they become binding. They serve as useful source of law
especially in the areas of international law. Typical examples of treaties include Nigeria’s
treaties in force, 1971; consolidated treaty series, 1920 – 1946 and the United Nations Treaty
Series 1946. These are all vital sources of international laws.
Other foreign materials include the following: Law Quarterly Review, (L.Q.R), Current Legal
Problems (C.L.P), International and Comparative Law Quarterly (I.C.L.Q); Modern Law
Review, (M.L.R), Criminal Law Review (C.L.R), The Journal of African Law (J.A.L) and the
African Journal of International Law (A.J.I.L.).
Digests also serve as foreign source of law. Digests are summaries of cases judicially
considered. They differ from law reports in that they are mere paraphrasing of cases in very
concise and understandable forms. Encyclopedias and precedent books are also foreign
sources of law. The Encyclopedia Britannica and Encyclopedia America cover wide subject
areas of law, jurisprudence and legal theory, legal Biography etc. They therefore provide
valuable secondary sources of law.
Precedent books contain samples of works done by legal authors for others to follow.
Precedent books include the Butter worth’s Encyclopedia of forms and precedents (5th
Edition) which covers extensive areas of solicitor’s work and the Atkin’s court forms which
deals with the forms, contents and procedure in civil matters. There are also standard
compendia, which are of immense source of law. An example is the American Juris
Secundum, which is an encyclopedic digest of American cases and statutes.
4. DICTIONARIES
Dictionaries are indispensable sources of law. To this end, the law library keeps some
Standard English Language Dictionaries and lexicons. These include, among others, the
Oxford English Dictionary, chambers English Dictionary and Webster’s International English
Dictionary. Such dictionaries help not only in verifying the meanings of words and phrase,
they also assist in the use of appropriate style, construction and framing of legal sentences to
elucidate some precision, conciseness, simplicity, and unity all of which are salient hallmarks
of any source of law.
Legal dictionaries may either be exclusively in English or bi-lingual. Examples of
Standard English language legal dictionaries include Black’s Law dictionary and Stroud’s
judicial Dictionary. There also exists some specialized dictionaries concerning specific
subject areas as well as other topical issues –Bi- lingual legal dictionaries are most helpful for
deciphering certain words or phrases especially Latin or French, which have been
unavoidably used in a passage. Most of such words have Roman and Anglo – saxon origins
and have become part of today’s legal writing to drive home certain principles and legal
maxims. Examples of bi- lingual dictionaries may include English-French, English – Italian,
English- Latin and English – Arabic Dictionaries.
(5) THESES DISSERTATIONS AND TECHNICAL REPORTS

These are written research reports and authoritative pontifications in the area of law. They
essentially have the characteristics of originality being the outcome of spirited research
endeavors. These are listings and implications of such materials in aid of legal research. The
lists are helpful in the preliminary aspects of legal research especially in literature searches
and reviews, thereby forming secondary sources of law.
(6) LEGAL TEXTBOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS

These constitute the bulk of the stock of a law library and can therefore be regarded as the
most authoritative secondary sources of law. Legal textbooks consist of scholarly views,
opinions, commentaries and authoritative expositions in certain subject area. Some legal
series have become household names in academic and professional legal parlance. An
example is the common law library series made up of standard and quite authoritative legal
textbooks. Other notable modern legal text writers include Lord Denning in the general
aspects of law and practice. Schwazenberger in the field of International Law, Street and
Jolowicz on torts, Cheshire and Fife foot on contracts, Roscoe pound, Hart and Fuller on
Jurisprudence and legal theory, Margery and Wade on property.
Apart from citations in various academic papers, the opinions and views of some of the legal
textbooks writers have been referred to with approval in the court proceedings, for instance,
authoritative texts like Johnson’s history of the Yoruba’s, Coker’s family property among the
Yoruba’s, obi’s Ibo land law and Ajayi’s History of west Africa have had to be cited in order
to get to the root of certain prevailing customary practices in some societies.
(7) GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

Government documents have assumed great importance as source of law owing to the fact
that they emanate directly from government sources, they are always considered to be very
authoritative. For instance, any information contain in the Gazette are deemed to have been
issued by authority and as such deemed to be authentic. Official publications include books,
pamphlets, posters and pictorial items issued by the government printer. Such materials also
consist of laws, regulations, directives, notices, decrees, edicts, bye – laws and important
announcement relating to the state as contained in the gazette or an extra ordinary
publication.
These Government publications are usually in various forms like gazette, reports of
commissions of inquiries, white papers, reports of special tribunals, as constitutional bodies,
as the Constituent Assembly, parliamentary publications including the “Hansard” and some
other personalities in government.

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LAW 101

SECONDARY SOURCES OF LAW

2. INTERVIEWS, PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS

(5) THESES DISSERTATIONS AND TECHNICAL REPORTS

(6) LEGAL TEXTBOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS

(7) GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS

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