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Legal Research Centers of West Virginia |
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Beginning Legal Research |
Step 1: Clearly Define Your Legal Question
Research begins by thinking about who, what, where and when so you understand the facts behind your legal question. Once you have decided this information, you can begin to solve the problem. For example, a person might want to legally change his/her name, and is looking for laws about the subject. Here are some questions that you might ask about the situation.
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What agency do I have to contact to initiate a name change?
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What are the requirements for changing my name in the State of West Virginia?
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Is there a specific law that covers making a name change?
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Does it make any difference whether I have changed my name before?
By following this process you should be able to identify keywords and search terms to describe the situation. These will help you to make a more thorough search for your information. Some words that you might use for this situation would be:
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name
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change
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personal
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West Virginia
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agency
Step 2: Check Dictionaries for Spelling and Definitions
Check several dictionaries to make sure that you have the correct spelling and meaning for the words you are going to use in your research. It is also a good idea to look in a thesaurus to locate possible synonyms for search terms and keywords. Many legal terms are simply synonyms for words used in everyday conversation.
Step 3: Do I Need to Look at Federal or State Laws on this situation?
You need to decide if you want to look at the West Virginia law or United States law when performing research. To locate federal and state laws, you can visit a law library in your area and ask to see the West Virginia Code or the United States Code. Both of these codes are multi-volume sets of books divided into chapters and sections. Just ask the librarian for assistance in using these resources.
Step 4: Is My Situation Categorized as Criminal or Civil Law ?
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Criminal Law - law involves prosecution by the government of a person for an act that has been classified as a crime. Some examples that fall into this category are:
Assault and Battery Rape
Breaking and Entering Robbery
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Civil Law - concerns the judicial resolution of claims by one individual or group against another. Some examples that fall into this category are:
Bankruptcy Personal Injury
Landlord-Tenant Family Law