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GAZETTE
JUNE 1992
Law Soc i ety Library
Law Reports, Legislation and other
materials.
(Holdings in EC law were described
in the April 1992 Gazette at page
113).
The Law Society library provides a
wide range of services to members
enabling them to carry out effective
legal research which in turn enhances
the service they can give to their
clients. In addition to readers who
call personally to the library, the
staff handle approx. 300 queries per
month. (See charges for this service
overleaf). These range from
straightforward requests for a copy
of a specific law report e.g. "Have
you got a copy of
P & F Sharpe
Ltd. -v- Dublin County Council
[1989] I.R. 712" to the more
complicated subject search which
necessitates devising a search strategy
spanning the various source materials
available in the library. e.g. " I need
all statutory and case law, articles
and textbooks on medical
negligence."
A brief outline of the library's
holdings in the area of law reports
and legislation, and how these are
accessed by the use of indices
follows.
Case Law - Ireland
The library receives transcripts of all
written
judgments delivered by the
High Court, Supreme Court and
Court of Criminal Appeal. Supreme
Court judgments are generally
available within 2 weeks of date of
delivery; High Court judgments are
circulated by the Central Office
usually within 6-8 weeks of delivery,
but it can be longer.
The library staff maintain an index
of judgments which is arranged
alphabetically by plaintiff's name. A
comprehensive subject index is
jointly produced by the Bar Council
and the Law Society and this is
published twice yearly with annual
consolidations. This index,
commonly known as the "Pink
Pages"* (1) includes a short keyword
summary of each case and is
circulated to every member of the
Society through the
Gazette.
It is
one of the most important
bibliographical tools available to the
case researcher and is worth keeping
for permanent reference. As well as
the published
Pink Pages
the library
staff have access to as yet
unpublished summaries which
include very current material. These
summaries can be inspected by
members at any time.
A number of judgments are selected
by the Law Reporting Council for
inclusion in the
Irish Reports.
The
library also subscribes to the other
main series, the
Irish Law
Reports
Monthly
and holds the latter's
predecessor, the
Irish Law
Times
Reports
from their origin in 1871.
The Irish Times
is bought on a daily
basis and its Law Report is kept for
reference purposes. The various other
older series of Irish Law Reports
dating back to 1827 are also stocked.
The key to finding reported cases is
the
Irish Digest,
a multi-volume
work now covering the period
1867-1988. A substantial number of
queries on Irish case law received by
the library can be solved by use of
the Digests in tandem with the
"Pink Pages".
In the Labour Law area the library
receives the decisions of the
Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Unfortunately as yet no master index
of these decisions has been
published, so the library can only
trace a decision where the reference
number assigned to the case by the
A view of the Law Society Library
EAT is known. A new series of Law
Reports, the
Employment
Law
Reports
has been published by
Round Hall Press, and in this
selected decisions of the EAT are
reported. The Federation of Irish
Employers has recently published a
casebook on unfair dismissal law
which is a most useful reference
work in this field.*(2)
Case Law
- UK
Apart from the official Law Reports
produced by the Incorporated
Council of Law Reporting for
England & Wales there is a range of
commercially produced series of law
reports, many subject-oriented,
which provide very good coverage.
The library subscribes to most of
these and in the rare case where a
member requires an unreported
English decision this can be ordered
from a UK agency.
Current
Law,
which is published by Sweet &
Maxwell is a monthly index of UK
cases, containing both a case citator,
a subject list and a very useful list
of current articles and books
published. It complements the
official
Index to the Law
Reports,
(Red Index).
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