In legal research, what is a primary source?

A primary source in legal research is a document that establishes law on a specific issue. This includes statutes, regulations, case law, and constitutions. Primary sources are the authoritative texts that are binding and enforceable and serve as the foundation for legal analysis and argumentation.

When engaging in legal research, practitioners rely on these materials to understand what the law is regarding particular matters. For instance, case law provides judicial interpretations that are essential for understanding how laws are applied in real scenarios, while statutes outline the laws enacted by legislative bodies. Each of these represents the original legal documents that inform and govern legal practices.

The other options refer to secondary sources, which are useful for understanding and interpreting the law but do not constitute law themselves. Summaries of existing case law, secondary analyses of legal statements, and compilations of legal definitions all serve as tools for legal research and practice, but they do not establish the law directly.