Midterm Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Midterm - Assignment Example Researchers may find legal briefs important because they will not only cite important case and statutory law, but can be used to help the researcher analyse a similar research issue. Question 3: The US Code is a chronological organization of all permanent/current laws of the US Congress. The US Code is published every 6 years with each edition reflecting all amendments and supplements to the law currently in effect. Thus each subsequent edition of the US Code will be expected to reflect only the current law or laws currently in effect. For instance, if an Act or provision of an Act was repealed, the next edition of the US Code will reflect the repeal. However, if an Act or provision was amended or supplemented by an additional provision, the new provision or supplementary provision will be reflected in subsequent editions of the US Code. Question 4: Legal professionals and legal scholars might share an interest in the original intentions of the US Constitution as a means of understan ding what the framers’ initially intended the Constitution to mean. By taking this approach, the possibility of conflicting and confusing interpretations is reduced and the US Constitution is understood and applied with greater consistency and predictability. In looking for the original intentions of the framers of the US Constitution, legal professionals and legal scholars will look at the debates between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists at the time before and during ratification. The debates will be found in the Federal Papers. Another important source is the Declaration of Independence. Question 5: Court opinions, statutes, and documents containing arguments of the framers of legislation and constitutions are regarded as primary sources because they are authoritative in nature. In other words, primary sources of law reflect actual statements of the law or the original intention of what the state law will or are intended to be and how it should be interpreted and ap plied. Question 6: Cite-checkers as secondary sources of law are features providing information relative to a specific area of the law. The information typically includes headings and primary sources to which the heading relates. For example a cite-checker for the US Code will identify whether or not the statute is revised. Editorial notes relating to the primary source will also be included and relevant information not included in the primary source. Legal digests differ only in that they will provide indices of legal issues and the case and statutory laws supporting the specific position. Cite-checkers and legal digests are therefore valuable secondary sources of information for researchers because they direct the researcher to primary sources of information. Question 7: Encyclopedias and legal periodicals both provide statements of the law as it is, as it was and as it should be. However, what distinguishes encyclopedias from legal periodicals is content. Encyclopedias are genera l and concise statements of the law. However, legal periodicals are far more comprehensive and provide both theoretical and practical discussions over a period of time. While neither source is authoritative, both can be valuable guides to where a researcher might look for primary and authoritative sources of law. Legal periodicals however, usually reflect opinions and analyses that can have persuasive value even to judges determining a legal dispute. Thus researchers should only use legal