Information Sources in Law 2nd edition Guides to Information Sources Series)

Citation

Day, A. (1998), "Information Sources in Law 2nd edition Guides to Information Sources Series)", Collection Building, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 44-44. https://doi.org/10.1108/cb.1998.17.1.44.2

Now stretching to 19 titles, from Architecture and Construction to Sport and Leisure, one or two of which are now in a third or fourth edition, the aim of this remarkably useful series is to reduce the time spent on initial research, to recommend where to start, and provide entry into a subject for new players, or to identify new, and possibly previously unexplored sources to more experienced researchers. This particular title, which more accurately might have been “Information sources in European law,” embraces 31 separate bibliographical essays by independent hands, either university academics or experienced law librarians, one of whom is Reference Reviews’ own George Woodman, who writes knowledgeably not only of Northern Ireland, but also of The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

First in the dock is Winterton’s “General sources,” a wide‐ranging overview of sources of legal information in English, mainly encyclopaedic or multi‐jurisdictional compilations of national materials. “It is not possible in the space available,” he warns, “to mention more than a very small proportion of the large number of sources which might be relevant.” If that is true, and there is no reason to doubt it, then it confirms that your reviewer was very wise always to steer well clear of law librarianship and bibliography throughout his career, as Winterton blithely continues for 16 closely printed pages on legal systems; legal research; legislation, codes and commentaries; treaties; law reports and judgements; computer‐based systems; encyclopaedias, directories, bibliographies, indexing and abstracting services, dictionaries, and current information sources, and ends with another four pages listing the works cited.

Next up is Frances Shipsey’s essay on the legal system of the European Union (EU), made up of the supranational law of the EU, the national laws of each member state, and intergovernmental law, restricted to a description of the main EU legal systems, and to selected UK sources relating to the EU. Then, in alphabetical order, there follow country essays from Albania to the States of the former Yugoslavia, all similarly ordered, authoritative, highly informative, and, apart from the word “selected” used occasionally, comprehensive.

All essays, except the first, give useful addresses lists (lawyers’ associations, government organizations, law reform bodies, courts, education and training, research institutions, libraries, and publishers and booksellers). Considerably more information is given to the “UK and dependencies,” which consists of a general introduction; England and Wales; Northern Ireland; Scotland; and The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, extending to over 120 pages, which could conceivably be reprinted as an independent publication.

How long a compilation of this magnitude takes to complete the reviewer shudders to think. The text is generally up to date to December 1996 with some amendments at the proof stage in early 1997. It remains a unique and irreplaceable volume; a quick scour through the relevant Watford volume found only one comparable work and that was its own first edition, published by Butterworth in 1986. Considering the changes in the political map of Europe since then, a second edition was obviously needed. The case rests.