By Umar Ishaq Katsinawa
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Introduction
In general sense, legal profession cannot do without research and findings, because law is not static but dynamic subject to the changes of the society. Therefore, a lawyer must always do engage in research to know the current law that will favour him. Therefore, it’s partinent especially for the younger ones, to know the procedure for conducting legal research.
In this write up, I will like to briefly outline the procedure on how to make a good legal research, and some importance of legal research to Lawyers and any person in legal profession like students, law teachers, lawyers, solicitors and judges.
Meaning of Legal Research
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Fifth edition, Oxford University press (1995) p.996 defined research to mean “careful study or investigation in order to discover new fact or information”.
According to Romberg’s (1975) the word research has its stem “search” which means’look for’, with prefix ‘re’ which means”to look for again, more carefully, more exhaustively”. Research has to do with careful searching out or looking for something in order to understand whatever one is examining.
Legal Research is the careful and detail study of facts and law, in order to achieve a desired legal result. According to Malami E. Legal Research Involve a systematic and objective inquiry or investigation into the basic facts, sources, ideas or concepts, principles and institutions of law.
Legal research can also mean the process of finding information necessary to support legal decision making.
Methods Of Legal Research
There are two different methods of conducting legal research. Doctrinal and empirical method
Doctrinal Method of research is when the researcher rely on the theoritical aspects. Such as books, journals, Magazines, statute, law reports, news papers among others. This type of research has more connection to legal research.
Empirical Method of research is where by the researcher will rely on practical aspects. Such as experiment, distributing questionnaire, interview among others.
Characteristics of a Good Legal Research Topic
- The topic must be researchable.
- It must be interesting.
- It must contribute or add to knowledge.
- It must be within the framework of legal issues.
- It must be within the ability of a researcher to carry it out.
Importance Of Legal Research
Importance of legal research cannot be over emphasize:
Legal Research helps Lawyers in Identifying new legal theories with a view of adopting them.
Legal research helps in grooming and developing the experience of a Lawyers and younger ones.
Legal Research helps a lawyer to meet the dynamism of the law. Because law is always subject to changes.
Law is versatile. A lawyer must engage in legal research to know different things needed to him by the society.
Lawyers must engage in legal research in order to be acquainted with the recent cases of the superior courts of records.
Legislatures always spend there time, writing new laws, and modifying the old ones. Therefore a lawyer need research to know the new laws at all the time.
A lawyer need to convince the court to change to the right decision, in case it takes wrong decision either in the interpretation or application of the law. Therefore research is imperative to Lawyers.
Research helps a lawyer to know the current law that will come to his aid.
Pertinent Method of Legal Research
- Arrange the legal issues you will need to research on.
- Investigate the research terms.
- Consider the timeframe.
- Read from both the primary and secondary sources.
- Look up ethics, non-legal and other materials needed.
Sources of Legal Research Materials
Legal research materials are divided into two: primary and secondary materials.
- Primary materials: these are statute and case law
To search for a statute, a researcher needs to know the year the statute was made and the name of the statute. For example, you want to look for Evidence Act 2011, you will go to the index of the law made in 2011, it was arrange in alphabetical order, then look for letters ‘E’ you will see it, then take it and make you research.
On the other hand, to search for case law, a researcher must know the name of the parties, a year in which the case was reported, type of the law report, volume, part and page of the report. For example, you want to search for the case of Attorney general of Kaduna state & others Vs Victor bassey atta & others (1986)4 NWLR (pt.38) 785 all you need to do as a researcher is, to look for a series of Nigerian Weekly Law Report, volume 4 of 1986, part 38 at page 785.
- Secondary Materials: these include articles, juristic opinion, legal encyclopedia, text book etc
Generally, the procedure for searching secondary materials in our standard law library, is using card catalogue which includes: subject and authors catalogue.
Card catalogue: are cards designed by the librarian in the drawer of library that contains the name of the authors and subjects of the books in the library.
Subject catalogue include all the subjects of the books in the library, while authors catalogue include the name of the authors of all the books in the library.
Conclusion
From the above write up, we have discussed on a procedure to make good research, and we have seen how imperative the research is, to the judges, lawyers, law teachers and students of law.
There was a popular saying that says: Lawyers are different from the laymen not because they know the law, but because they know where to find the law.
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