Legal Research

?What is a Treatise?? The Sequel or Why use a Treatise?

By Amy Levine

Why use a Treatise?

• To gain an in-depth overview of a single area of law.
• To start your research especially if you don?t know much about your subject.
• To find persuasive authority for a case. (Depending on the reputation of the author and the source, a treatise can be a persuasive authority in a court).
• To find precise summaries of issues in a certain area of law.
• To find citations to cases, statutes, regulations and other secondary sources.
• To find analysis, explanation, and criticism of the law.
• To gain familiarity with the keywords, terms of art, issues, key cases, statutes and history of a particular area of law.

There are many treatises available in the law library. Most of the treatises are found on the second floor, some are on reserve and some are in the Study Skills Collection. If you want to find a treatise on a particular subject, enter keywords or the subject in the online catalog. Note any call numbers that appear on the subject, then peruse the section for any treatises of interest.

For a list of selected treatises available at the law library go to: http://www.law.asu.edu/Treatises.

Full post as published by Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).