Legal Traditions, and the Relevance Assessment

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The NPC, importantly, controls both legislative and judicial functions -- true to the consolidation of power in communism. When discussing the Chinese judiciary, one must understand there are no juries, only judges; and hearsay is admissible as evidence, unlike the civil tradition. However, in keeping with civil tradition, evidence obtained from documents carries more weight than oral testimony. The judge in a Chinese court is not interested in defending laws, their interest is in defending the interests of the communist state and the socialist system.

Module 2 -- Legal Research

Primary and secondary sources (2.11) and Keywords (2.1.2). Sources used in legal research are primary and secondary: primary research emerges directly from legal opinions, legislations, treaties or case law; secondary sources are commentaries about the decisions from journalists, lawyers, scholarly journals, and textbooks.

Things to look for in conducting research include the right keywords, without which search engines are not pointed in the right direction. Looking through legal materials can help locate those pivotal keywords like "family law" and "divorce." Those are broad keywords, and they work better than narrow keywords that zero in too specifically.

Also regarding keywords and research, by using truncation (placing a symbol at the end of the keyword alerts the search engine that you wish variations of the word presented) one can enhance the harvest of the search. Using Boolean connectors ("and" / "or") and proximity operators (incorporating a slash within the keyword phrase like "company w/4 director" rather than "director of the company" works well in retrieval in many databases). Being willing to try different approaches -- like broader searches -- is a good way to find what one wants to find.

Without discerning the reliability of the source, or the validity and accuracy of the source, the researcher is in the dark. Hence knowing the author (and researching his or her authenticity), knowing the date the material was published, and the point-of-view of the narrative and data is paramount to believing in the veracity of the research. Knowing how to best utilize databases in library Websites is another key to locating valid and valuable research documents. There are familiar databases that virtually all universities and colleges use -- like EBSCOhost, Academic Search Premier, among others -- and then there are regional databases, and databases such as DatAnalysis (providing company information not available on general databases).

Online legal databases are a very good source of information -- the best available when it comes to legal issues. Accessing these databases requires very little skill, just following directions. Once into the database, the person searching for legal documents should understand the difference between browsing, searching with a phrase, or searching with a keyword. The use of legal encyclopedias (Halsbury's Laws of Australia -- found through LexisNexis AU -- and the Laws of Australia -- in Legal Online) are available and using keywords or subject areas (using +) is the operative strategy.

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Lexis.com opens the door to the Martindale-Hubbell (R) Law Digest -- and once in the database the particular region to be searched can be accessed. The richest reference material can often be found through scholarly journal articles, and thousands are available through the world wide web. Keywords are vitally important in the search for journals that are pertinent to the issue sought. Often abstracts or summaries of important academic journals are available, and can be perused prior to downloading the entire document, which may turn out to be 50 or more pages.

Information relative to all aspects of law (relative to Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific law) can be retrieved through the Attorney-General's Information Service (AGIS). One can use keywords incorporating Boolean connectors in the AGIS database; the drop-down is self-explanatory. A good tip in one's research is to print out all of the journal, even though two or three pages at the end may be bibliography; from the bibliography one finds available a number of academic sources that may link to or dovetail with the research underway. The HeinOnline database offers a wealth of legal data, articles, and documents; once in the database click on "Law Journal Library" link and pull down the "Field Search" link.

The ability to search within a search exists for individuals using the HeinOnline database; use the links "Search Within These Results" and "Refine Your Search" to proceed. Another worthy database is Lexis.com; this offers legal materials from Australia, Canada, the UK and the U.S. Once into Lexis.com the link to use is "Law Reviews & Journals" -- this is found under the "Secondary Legal" heading. Again, Boolean connectors, truncation and proximity operators will work in Lexis.com.

What if the search turns up the abstract or an introduction but not the full text? There is generally a button indicating that the researcher wishes to download the "full text" -- but if that doesn't offer full text, searching through another database is required. Look not for the title of the article but first locate the journal and then search within that journal.

Locating academic materials relating to Commonwealth legislation -- look in www.comlaw.gov.au and select "Compilations" under the Acts heading ("Acts" refers to legislation). When searching for legislation specific to Queensland it is accessed through www.legislation.qld.gov.au/OQPChome.htm.

What about foreign law? The Lexis.com site (at the lower right hand portion of the home page) offers a link called "Foreign Laws & Legal.....

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