Legal Research

  • This Subject Area Index lists all CALI lessons covering Legal Research.
  • The Legal Research Outline allows you to search for terms of art that correspond to topics you are studying to find suggestions for related CALI Lessons.
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Researching U.S. Immigration Law

This lesson will provide students with some general background on U.S. immigration law and will give an overview of tools students can use for immigration law research. Students should have a fundamental knowledge of legal research tools but do not need to have any background in immigration law to proceed with the lesson. The lesson would work best while also taking a class about immigration law.

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Researching Historical Sources of the Civil Law

This lesson will introduce you to the civil law tradition and discuss research in civil law historical sources. The lesson covers the five major types of world legal systems, explains the current and historical sources of the civil law, and discusses the importance of historical sources in civil law research and interpretation. Specific historical sources are identified, as well as ideas for using secondary sources to make sure that your research is on the right track.

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European Union Research

This lesson provides an overview of the history and structure of the European Union, followed by an introduction to researching European Union documents, specifically EU treaties, regulations, directives, and opinions of the European Court of Justice. The European Union is a truly unique structure which represents over half a century of cooperation between select nations.

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Customary International Law

This lesson begins by defining customary international law and placing customary international law into context through historical examples. Two research strategies for locating custom will be introduced. The first strategy is to locate pre-defined custom using a source that discusses state practice that has risen to the level of custom. The second and more complex strategy involves searching directly for evidence of customary international law.

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United Nations Research

This lesson will show you the basic tools for finding United Nations materials. It first gives an overview of how the United Nations is organized. It includes descriptions of each of the principal organs of the U.N. and an overview of the United Nations document numbering system. It then shows online tools for United Nations research: the U.N.'s website; the Official Document System; and the U.N. Digital Library.

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