Module 1 Introduction

Legal information resources are either primary or secondary.

  • Primary sources are original materials, documented and reported on around the time of an event. Primary sources in law are statute law and case law. These are the law.
  • Secondary sources analyse and interpret primary sources. Secondary sources in law include books, journal and newspaper articles about the law.
This tutorial concentrates on primary sources and demonstrates how to locate legislation and cases.

Successful Searching tutorial provides information on secondary sources, covering locating books and journals articles, general research techniques, and tools to help you find and manage information effectively.

 Activity - It is important that you know which resources are primary and which are secondary.
  Identify whether the following resources are primary or secondary:
  primary secondary
  1. Cook, Catriona, Laying Down the Law (7th ed, 2009).
  2. Trade Practice Act 1974 (Cth) s 45.
  3. Vermeesch, Robert Bryan and Lindgren, Kevin Edmund, Business Law of Australia (11th ed, 2005).
  4. Bank Mergers Act 1996 (NSW) s 4.
  5. Steinwall, Ray, Trade Practices Act 1974 (2008).
  6. Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Regulation 2009 (NSW) s 3.
  7. Gotterson, Bob, 'Framework for a National Legal Services Market’ (2004) Law Society Journal : The Official Journal of the Law Society of New South Wales 58.
  8. Land Act 1958 (VIC).
  9. Weerasooria, Wickrema S. and Ipp, D. A., Butterworths Business and Law Dictionary (2nd ed, 2002).
  10. 'Defining Legal Work', (2004) (June) Law Society Journal : The Official Journal of the Law Society of New South Wales 63.


A good place to start looking for primary legal sources is the e-resources subject guide to Law on the UWS Library website: http://subjectguides.library.uws.edu.au/law.