Fictional state encyclopedia · Torts · original textFootnotes cite real authority
Premises Tort Liability Generally
Footnotes
Research references. Related sections in this encyclopedia:
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Chapter 4 · Appendix A
How to Read a Secondary Source
A secondary source explains the law and points to it; it is not the law. You use it two ways. Read as a map, its headings show you the questions a court will ask, in the order the doctrine asks them. Read for an answer, one sentence pays for your current question and its footnote hands you the primary authority to read next. Here is a full encyclopedia entry, and both reads.
Before you read
The situation. Your client’s sixteen-year-old was hurt at a state-run lake recreation area: a well-worn path led to a rock ledge above a swimming cove, no signs were posted anywhere in the park, and the ledge gave way under her. The family paid a camping fee. The intake memo calls it a premises liability matter and nothing more. You have never studied the area. You know the words “negligence” and “premises liability” and that is all.
The source. Premises Tort Liability Generally is an entry from a fictional Arizona legal encyclopedia, written for this page. Encyclopedias are where a no-clue exploratory question goes: they orient you, hand you vocabulary, and footnote the leading authority. The footnotes below point to real Arizona cases and statutes.
- Possessor
- Whoever controls the land, not only whoever owns it.
- Entrant
- Anyone who comes onto the land. The entry sorts entrants into categories, and the category sets the duty.
- Footnote
- Each hangs off one sentence and gives the authority behind that sentence. The footnote number is the address of the case you read next.
- Currency line
- The date through which the entry was last updated. Every secondary source is a snapshot; this is its date.
How to engage with a secondary source
Reverse-engineer the plan
Each heading in the entry is the answer to a question a court will ask. Name the question each section answers, then put the questions in the order a researcher would have to ask them: the first question first, a sub-question never before the question it narrows, sibling factors in any order. The result is your starting map.