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Is used to point out the origin or the beginning
of the stream law.
Is used to denote the causes of law or the
matter of which law is composed.
By Holland: Sources of law denotes the agent
where we obtain the knowledge of law.
Natural law:By Natural law,law has divine
origin.
Salmond: According to Salmond two main
sources of law were formal and material.
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Are allowed by the courts as the right.
Establishes the law on the particular issues.
Are also the gates through which new
principles can find entrance to law.
They influence more or less extensively the
course of legal development.
These are the sources are recognized as such by
law itself.
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Precedents
Customs
Legislation
Statute
Constitutions
Treaties
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Judgments passed by learned and experienced
judges
When there is no legislature on particular point
which arises the changing conditions, judges
use own sense to decide right or wrong for any
disputes.
Is more flexible to use, as it is almost ready to
be used.
These decision become authority or guide for
subsequent case of similar nature.
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A custom is a rule which in a particular family or
in a particular district or in a particular section,
class or tribe, has from long usage obtained the
force of law.
The dictionary of English law defines custom as a
law not written, which being established by long
use and consent of our ancestors has been and
daily is put into practice.
Every custom is limited in its application.
It is a path which is made from lane.
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Legislature is the direct source of law.
Legislature frames new laws, amends the old
laws and cancels existing laws in all countries.
It not only creates new rules of law it also
sweeps away existing inconvenient rules.
So it is regarded as the authoritative source
which can be reliable.
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A statute is a formal written enactment of a
legislative authority that governs a state, city,
or country.
Statutes command or prohibit something, or
declare policy.
The word is often used to distinguish law
made by legislative bodies from case law,
decided by courts, and regulations issued by
government agencies.
So it is regarded as the authoritative source of
legal method.
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Supreme law of the country.
Umbrella of law which exercises the other laws
of the country.
Layout the basic structure of the government to
which people are governed.
Deals with the limitations of power.
Regarded as the most important sources to
provide authority to every aspect of state.
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The host country may be subject (or may be
about to become subject) to laws made by a
regional or world grouping by becoming a
signatory to a treaty.
Examples are the laws of the European of
Union, trade treaties, rules of the WTO and
bilateral treaties.
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Are not allowed by the law of courts as of
rights.
do not have the power to affect legal rights,
and are referred to instead for their instructive
value and for the references they provide to
authoritative sources.
is information cited by lawyers in arguments
and used by courts in reaching decisions.
Because of the broad overview of the law that
they provide, non-authoritative sources can be
an excellent starting point for legal research.
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Law review articles, comments and notes (written by law
professors, practicing lawyers, law students, etc.)
Legal textbooks, such as legal treatises and hornbooks
Annotations published in statute books, codes, or other materials,
such as the annotations in the American Law Reports series
Legal encyclopedias (such as Corpus Juris
Secundum and American Jurisprudence)
Legal dictionaries (such as Black's Law Dictionary)
Restatements of the Law published by the American Law Institute
Legal briefs
Tax forms and instructions published by governments
Government publications explaining or summarizing the laws
Government employee manuals (such as the Internal Revenue
Manual for employees of the Internal Revenue Service)
Course materials from continuing legal education seminars
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Legal dictionaries provide definitions of words
in their legal sense or use.
These publications provide a short definition
for foreign and Latin legal words and phrases.
Refer to cases and other legal sources for
authority.
They also include tables defining legal
abbreviations and acronyms.
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Legal Encyclopedias offer broad and general
commentary on a full range.
These are useful as a starting point for
researching unfamiliar areas of law.
Most of the articles in the encyclopedias focus
primarily on case law and do not contain
extensive citations to statutes or other
secondary sources.
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Words and Phrases are research tools, which
are similar to legal dictionaries.
Both include legal definitions of words but
Words and Phrases also include multiple
entries of how the term or the word has been
defined by the courts.
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Annotated law reports provide essays that
analyze and discuss particular points of law.
They focus on narrow legal issues rather than
general points of law.
The articles provide references to the statutes,
digests, texts, treatises.
The articles analyze and describe cases.
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Legal treatises are publications that present a
highly organized, detailed explanation of a
specific area of law (sample topics include
contracts, torts, criminal law and property).
Most treatises are updated by the use of
supplements.
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Legal directories are heavily used locators for
legal and government information.
There are a variety of resources that provide
directory and biographical information about
attorneys, law firms, legal experts, professors,
government officers, corporate legal
departments, legal aid organizations, and
elected officials.
AUTHORITATIVE
SOURCES
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These are legal materials.
These are formally
recognized by law itself.
These are allowed by law
courts as of rights.
These sources can be
amended by the
instruction given by non
authoritative sources.
NON AUTHORITATIVE
SOURCES
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These are non legal
sources.
These sources lack formal
reorganization of law.
These have no such
claims.
These sources describe
about the authoritative
materials.
Being the distinct nature of the authoritative and
non authoritative sources, they play the vital
role to describe nature of law and its functions.
They both maintain the status of law in the
society from its origin to the development.
These both sources act as microscope of past
laws, horoscope of present laws and telescope
of future.