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SENG 401 - Introduction to Legal Research for Software Engineering

This guide provides an introduction to legal research for non-lawyers

Legal Encyclopedias

Legal encyclopedias: 

  • Contain brief narrative summaries on particular topics  
  • Provide a quick overview of basic legal principles and issues
  • Provide citations to relevant legislation and cases

The hierarchical classification of legal encyclopedias are useful. They give researchers an overview of how the key elements in a given area of law fit together.

Legal Dictionaries

Legal dictionaries have: 

  • brief definitions or translations of established legal terms and maxims (including in French and Latin)
  • definitions of common terms that have special legal meanings 
  • reference to cases or legislation 

These dictionaries can be helpful in ensuring you have the right search terms when you are starting your research.

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This work by The University of Victoria Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise indicated when material has been used from other sources.