Reading Legal Articles and Textbooks
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Reading as a Law Student
As a university student, you will be required to read a wide range of materials and
that there is no longer a key or single textbook which contains all of the
information that you need to pass a particular examination. Your lecturers will
assign you reading from a variety of sources – student and practitioner textbooks,
academic journals, websites, current affairs magazines, and newspapers. This can
be somewhat confusing, particularly if you are used to working from a single and
definitive source.
Practical Exercises
• Read Chapter 30 of Brian Doolan,
“Principles of Irish Law” (8th ed, Gill
and Macmillan, 2011)
• How does this chapter present the
different types of relationships which
it deals with? Would it have been
better to discuss cohabitation before
As you work through your assigned reading, it is important to remember that as
you progress to more advanced levels of study, it becomes increasingly difficult to
find a textbook which contains all of the information that you need. The law
changes all the time, and lawyers will often disagree about the correct
interpretation of a law, or the correct answer to a legal question. It is therefore
very useful to read different perspectives on the law.
Rónán Kennedy, School of Law, NUI Galway
discussing divorce? Why did the
author choose not to do this?
• Are you aware of any recent
changes to the law that are not
mentioned in this chapter?
• Where would you try to find
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In addition, you will have your own learning style. While you should not neglect
information on these changes in
the sources which your lecturer relies upon (given that they will setting the
order to bring your knowledge up
Reading Articles and Textbooks
Why Read Articles?
Articles in academic journals come in
two principal varieties: those written
for practitioners and those written for
academics. You will read some
examples of both during your
studies. In order to get the most out
of these, it is useful to know what the
difference between them is and the
reason why you have been asked to
read them.
Articles written for academics are
Practitioner textbooks tend to
generally about understanding the
assume that the reader already
law. They may explore the history
knows the area of law in question,
behind a particular set of rules, try to
and will focus on detailed issues,
put those rules in a broader context,
usually involving a discussion of case
or challenge the underlying (and
law, and pointing out grey areas and
often unspoken) assumptions that
unanswered questions. They are
have shaped those rules.
rarely intended to be read as a whole
Why Read Textbooks?
material.
Legal textbooks can be divided into
three varieties: those aimed at
Articles written for practitioners are
students, at practitioners, or at
generally trying to keep them up-to-
academics.
date on changes in the law, whether
new legislation or recent case law.
These tend to assume that the reader
already has a basic grounding in the
topic and will focus on the detail of
the change, together with its practical
and are better seen as reference
Academic textbooks, or monographs,
are long versions of academic
articles, which try to provide a deep
understanding of an area of law.
Student textbooks will assume little
They will often use frameworks from
basic knowledge and will try to
other disciplines, such as sociology,
explain the context, history, and
economics, or politics, to dissect their
development of the law. They are
topic.
intended to be read from beginning
to end.
implications.
How to Read for Law Examinations
You should read articles and
TIPS Don’t rely on textbooks and articles. They are often wrong; the only definitive source of the law
is the law itself, so you may have to read legislation and case law for the final word.
Read more than one source, if you can spare the time.
Remember that textbooks go out of date. A book more than three years old is probably quite wrong
Rónán Kennedy, School of Law, NUI Galway
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