DIY legal research
Finding the relevant law can be difficult, even for a lawyer.
This section is a good place to start. However it may be necessary to locate the actual laws or legislation under which you could be, or have been, charged.
It is most important to try and locate the most recent law as some areas change regularly.
The following is a brief guide to finding the two types of law:
- Parliament-made law (legislation), and
- judge-made law case lawThe law based on decisions made by judges in previous case. See: common law. More.
Don’t be frightened by the task. If you are at the library, ask a librarian for help.
To find out what the law is, you can look at three sources:
- The laws made in Parliament,
- Delegated legislationSee: Regulations. More, and
- The decisions made by judges in courts (which are published in law reports).
