Legal Research

FAQ: Law Library Terms: Treatise

Treatises 101

What is a Treatise?

A book. Or a series of books. But the unique characteristic is that a treatise is about one particular subject. So when you look in the law library's collection you will see treatises on all kinds of subjects.

What makes a treatise a treatise, not just a book? The subject, not the form. A little logic: All treatises are books (unless they are electronic) but not all books are treatises.

Treatises are great secondary sources to use when you begin your research or whenever you need clarification to better understand complex legal issues.

Another way of looking at it:
Treatises are legal texts that are often multivolume in size. Treatises can vary in terms of style and analysis but they generally provide a detailed survey of a particular field of law. See for example, Corbin on Contracts (Law Reserve KF 801.C65). Treatises are a secondary source and lack legal authority. However, because they are written by respected legal scholars they can carry considerable persuasive value depending on how highly the author and the treatise are regarded by the court.

Why use a Treatise?
*To gain an in-depth overview of a single area of law.
*To start your research especially if you don't know much about your subject.
*To find persuasive authority for a case. (Depending on the reputation of the author and the source, a treatise can be a persuasive authority in a court).
*To find precise summaries of issues in a certain area of law.
*To find citations to cases, statutes, regulations and other secondary sources.
*To find analysis, explanation, and criticism of the law.
*To gain familiarity with the keywords, terms of art, issues, key cases, statutes and history of a particular area of law.

Where can I find a treatise?

There are many treatises available in the Law Library. Most of the treatises are found on the first floor (in the KF section), some are on Reserve, and some are in the other areas of the collection. If you want to find a treatise on a particular subject, enter keywords or the subject in the online catalog. Note any call numbers that appear on the
subject, then peruse the section for any treatises of interest.

For a list of selected treatises by topic available at the Law Library go to: http://local.law.umn.edu/library/studyaidpubs.html.

Many thanks to Reference Librarian Mary Rumsey and the Ross-Blakley Law Library blog for contributing to this post.

Full post as published by LexLibris on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).