How do you conduct effective legal research?

Quick guide to Legal Research

Identify the scope of the legal question.
Begin your research by consulting a secondary source.
Identify relevant statutes.
Identify the cases that are on-point for your specific facts.
Use digests and databases to find more cases.
Confirm that your authority is still good law.

What are primary and secondary sources of law?

Primary and Secondary Legal Sources Primary legal sources are the actual law in the form of constitutions, court cases, statutes, and administrative rules and regulations. In short, anything that is more than the actual law is considered a secondary source.

What are two types of laws?

There are two types of law – civil and criminal.
Criminal – state or federal prosecutors bring a case against a person charged with a major crime, called a felony.
Civil – deals with lawsuits brought by individuals or the government against other individuals, organizations or companies.

What are the sources of civil law?

Primary Sources Civil law systems draw a sharp distinction between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are enacted law, custom, and ‘general principles of law. ‘ Of these, the main source is the enacted (statutory) law; it predominates in civil law systems.

What is an example of civil law?

Examples are murder, assault, theft,and drunken driving. Civil law deals with behavior that constitutes an injury to an individual or other private party, such as a corporation. Examples are defamation (including libel and slander), breach of contract, negligence resulting in injury or death, and property damage.

What are the two main areas of civil law?

Civil law

housing law.
consumer law including credit, debt and mortgage matters.
discrimination law.
social security law.
immigration law.
mental health law.
guardianship law.
veterans’ law.

What are the three major types of civil disputes?

Civil cases

financial issues – such as bankruptcy or banking disputes.
housing.
defamation.
family law.
employment law.

What is civil law in simple terms?

(1) A generic term for all non-criminal law, usually relating to settling disputes between private citizens. (2) A body of laws and legal concepts derived from Roman law as opposed to English common law, which is the framework of most state legal systems.

Can you go to jail for civil?

A business or agency can also file a case in civil court or be sued in civil court. If someone loses a case in civil court, that person may be ordered to pay money to the other side or return property, but that person does not go to jail just for losing the case.

What happens if you can’t pay a civil suit?

If you lose a civil case and are ordered to pay money to the winning side, you become a judgment debtor. The court will not collect the money for your creditor, but if you do not pay voluntarily, the creditor (the person you owe money to) can use different enforcement tools to get you to pay the judgment.

How long can a civil suit stay open?

one year

On what grounds can a civil case be dismissed?

FRCP 12 provides the list of grounds for dismissal in federal court, which includes a lack of jurisdiction, improper service of process, failure to join a party, and a plaintiff’s failure to state a claim for relief.

Can a judge throw out a civil case?

The legal term is “involuntary dismissal.” A judge can dismiss a case without prejudice over the objections of the plaintiff. They can do this for a variety of reasons.

Can I file a civil suit without a lawyer?

Anyone in the United States has the right to represent themselves in court and file a lawsuit without an attorney. In fact, when it comes to small claims court people are even encouraged to represent themselves, because small claims court was designed to be accessible to both lawyers and non-lawyers.