Chapter 2

Collection of Data in Legal Research

Collection of Data
Collection of data is regarded as a fascinating phase of research.
Through the collection and handling of information, the researcher begins t
feel the actual excitement of research. A researcher can either collect the
data himself or rely on others for their collected data or information
available with them. In both the cases, there is a great need for data of hich
quality. The selection of data requires great skill and experience.
Adatum is what is observed, is manifest or phenotypical. Data in
socio-legal studies, as in other sciences, are based on our sense-observations.
The word fobservation' as used here includes all forms of perception used in
recording responses as they impinge upon our senses. But response is not a
datum. Aresponse is some manifest kind of action, whereas a datum is the
product of the process of recording the response.
In data collection stimuli (questions, tests, pictures or other objects) is
presented to the respondent (subject). The stimuli may be classified as
systematic stimuli, and unsystematic stimuli. By systematic stimuli, we
mean those that are kept constant while objects are changed. The
unsystematic stimuli are those which lack standardization e.g., questions
asked in informal interviews.

Primary Authoritative Source

The primary sources of law are those authoritative records of law
which are made by law-making bodies. These records are :
(i) Constitution of the country;
(i) The legislation or statutes made by Parliament or State
legislatures;
(ii) The rules, regulations, orders and by-laws of those bodies to
whom Parliament or State legislature has delegated authority;
(iv) The authoritative reports of the decisions of the courts ie., case
law;
(v) Administrative proceedings or decisions or orders issued by
administrative agencies, who are authorised to do so;
(vi) Executive orders and proclamations and treaties and protocols and
compacts between countries (States);
(vii) The courts recognise the existence of customary law.
The responses of the subjects (i.e., respondents) to the stimuli may also
332 )
 Collection of Data in Legal Research 333
systematic and unsystematic
responses have a reference to constant (definite, responses.
classified as standardized)Systematic
response
be
responses of subject to a stimulus are recorded. The
categories, Thus, the
unsystematic responses are those which are recorded verbatim with due
regardto all possible individual variations and characterological nuances.
categories of stimuli and responses, we can decide the
Bringing these data as :-
settingsfor the collection of
(i) informal,
(ii) formal unstructured, and
(iii) formal structured.
m responses of the subjects may be called as 'acts'. Acts may be
classified as veyerbal and non-verbal. The verbal acts may be sub-divided into
Verbal acts are acts where verbal symbols are used to
oral and written.
communicate. The non-verbal acts are the signals like bowing, clapping, ete.
The oral-verbal acts consist of the subjeèt replying to a stimulus by the
Word of the mouth. The other kind of verbal acts consist in writing out the
stimulus.
responses to the
The main forms of data collection responses can be presented in the
following break-down table :
Settings Responses
Non-verbal Oral-verbal Written-verbal
Formal Participant Conversations Letters, articles,
observation biographies
Formal Systematic Unstructured Open-ended
unstructured Observation Interviews Questionnaires
Experiments Structured Structured
Formal
structured interviews questionnaires
The process of data collection is related to: (i) Primary and secondary
sOurces of data, (ii) Census and sampling techniques, and (iii) Methods of
data collection..
The sources of legal data can be classified on several grounds, such as,
basis of reliability
Telability, personal efforts, availability and so on. On thePrimary data, and
they may be broadly divided into two categories
Seeondary data. Some divided the sources of data into documentary SOurce
aia, neld sources. Lundberg classified them as historical sources and field
SOurces.
sampling
ne techniques of collection are of two types : Census and
PLaled study see the Chapter Sampling Design'). The methods of data
schedules, (3)
collection are : (1) Observation schedules, (2)caseInterview
study methods. (Por
Quest edionnai
detCaseailStudy res,
(4) Project techniques and
see the Chapters "Observation, Interview,
studyMethods). Questionnaire and
 334
Legal Rosearch Methodoogy

Primary and Secondary Sources of Dafa Collection

and External Sources of Data)
The sources of data collection
are of two types-Prirnary or
(internal
field Hourge; and (ii) Secondary or Gxternal
sOurce. internalor
of Data
(a) Primary or Ficld Source or Internal Source
It is original information collected for the first tirme. It is also called s
internal Bource of data as the data is collected dírectly fron
the(subjecy.
They are obtained from living persons directly related to the prontof or
through observation, This prímary BOurce can again be sub-divided into :(a)
Dircct Primarg, and (b) Indirect Primary.
() Direet Primary Sources : The rescarcher personally goes and
observes cvents, things, behaviour, activities and 80 0n. He has to displar
Ereat skill and objcctivity. Observation can be of three sub-types6
participant observation, (ii) non-participant observation, and (i
quasi-participant observation. Direct observation is the best, but difficult To
some cases it may be either legally inadmissible or physically impossible.
(ii) Indirect PrimarySources : As the researcher cannot observe things
which occurred long back, he needs to contact those persons who have made
observations relevant to his research. This can be done through interviews.
questiomnaires or schedules.
(b) Secondary or External Source of Data
This ínformation is obtained from outside either from a publisbed
source or from someone else who has already worked on the subject. They
save a researcher the labour of collecting data again and preventing
unnecessary expenditure. They can be broadly divided into two types : (a)
Personal documents, and (b) Published documents. Personal documents
consist of life histories, diaries, letters, memoirs. It is very difficult to obtain
them or put them to proper use. Public documents come from public bodies,
Government and private organisations. Apart from books, available in
libraries, this category includes records, published statistics, reports of
newspapers and journals and special reports, film or TV. programmes, tapes
and so on. Unpublished documents are not easily available. Documentary
sources are very important because past events can be known only through
them. They may reveal certain secrets. They can help to save time, money
and energy. But a researcher should verify the contents with the help of
other sources. Works that write about or explain primary sources are called
secondary source. The secondary sources of law are those publications which
refer and relate to the law while not being themselves primary sources.
Traditionally they were the legal commentaries, legal text-books,
encyclopaedias,dictionaries, digests, journals, treatise and the like. Acourt
will not feel bound by secondary source material if either in support or a
proposition of law, although certain material such as the writing of learned
and highly esteemed authors may well be of significant persuasive value in
selecting between conflicting authorities. The secondary materials of law
possess only a persuasive value, but not authoritative value.
 Collection of Data in Legal Research 335

Relationship between Primary and Secondary Sources

The primary data once collected will become secondary data for others.
esearcher collecting primary data knows the reality and the
limitations. of the problem. Second-hand data provides hypotheses for the
problem. These hypotheses can be tested or verified on the basis of
first-hand data. Secondary data becomes third-hand data if they are
mentioned by someone else. Primary data can be considered as being most
reliable. The secondary sources are available in a Law Library.
Original or Primary Material Sources of Law
Material source of law is that source from which law derives not its
is
validitybut the matter of which it composed. Material sources are divided
historical. Legal source of law are those sources which are
into legal andThey
authoritative. are recognised as such by the law itself. These are the
immediate sources of law. The law which comes through the legal source
may be divided into the following classes :
. Ó Enacted Law, Having Its Source in Legislation. The
nation. In
supreme legislation is made by the sovereign power of the
democratic countries, Pariament is sovereign. It is considered not only
Supreme but legally omnipotent. But there may be certain constitutional
restrictions upon its power.
Subordinate legislation is made by any other authority than the
Supreme authority in the nation. It is made under the powers delegated by
the supreme authority. Such legislation is also considered as law.
Subordinate laws are executive made laws and local laws by local bodies.
2) Case Law, Having Its Source in Precedent. Precedent is
defined as "a previous instance or case which is, or may be taken as an
example of rule for subsequent cases, or by which some similar act or
circumstances may be supported or justified. In the judicial feld, it means
the guidance or authority of past decisions for future cases. Only such
decisions as lay down some new rule or principle are called judicial
precedents. The first general rule of doctrine precedent is that each court is
absolutely bound by the decisions of the courts above it. The second rule is
that to a certain extent higher courts are bound by their own decisions.
(38 Customary Law, Having Its Source in Custom, Customs are
the most important source of law. But with the progress of the society, they
gradually diminish and legislation and judicial precedents become the main
sources. In every legal system and at altthe-stageseflegal development
there are some customs accepted by the society. The customs having
sanction are those customs which are enforced by the State. Legal customs
operate on a binding rule of law. They have been recognised by the courts
and have become a part of the law of the land. They are enforced by the
Courts.
3 Conventional Law, Having Its Source in Agreement.- The
Conventional law are those customs which govern the parties to an
agreement. Parties agree to them. Such customs are binding not due to any
 336 Legal Research Methodology
legal authority independently possessed by them, but
the contract between the parties to it. There is a bulk because
of
it
has teer
in everyuntry.
5Y Statutory Interpretation.-The law
through legislation is called enacted or statute laus:.which
conventional
It is comes
for into
apply these formulas to specific cases. The court has to the cours to
meaning of the letters and expressions of the enactment for
ascer to
This process of ascertaining the meaning of the letters and its
the court is called interpretation'. In this process, the appicatin
judgeexpressOns by
considerable influence on the statute law. The
interpretation is exerts veryd
two kinds : (i) literal and (iü) liberal. The principle of literal mainy
is that the judge should not go beyond the letters of the law. The
interprettion is that the judges should go beyond the letters of the interpretaibertion
in orderto ascertain the true intention. satte
6) Codifications,Codification means promulgation,
collection and systematization of the body of law in a coherent compilate
authority in a State competent to do so. In India, there are
Manu, Yajnavalkya, Brihaspathi, Narada, Parashara, the ete. codes
Thes
f
various codes are applied in different parts of the country. In
the Indian Law Commission drafted a number of codes such asmodern time
Indian Pera
Code, the Civil Procedure Code, etc. The Law Commission made
comprehensive and voluminous recommendations many of which have heen
implemented.
There are other sources of law ike : (1) morals and equitr and
opinions of experts. All these sources are available in documentarr fom in
general and legal libraries.
4) Case [Link] legal practitioner, judge, researcher of law has to
intolve in search of law to be applied to a case in hand because "no lawer
knows more than a relatively infinitesimal part of the law, nor does any
judge". But they have to know how to find law and where to find law.
Lawyers draw relevant proposition of law to be applied in a case in
hand from two important sources : the judgments made by higher courts,
i.e., the precedents and the legislations. One cannot find out a law
applicable to a fact situation covered by a single source of law. Often the
legal proposition to be applied in a fact situation cannot be drawn from a
particular source of law. A sound knowledge in substantive and proce£ural
laws enables a lawyer to identify relevant facts of a case from a mountain
of facts made available to him by a client. On the identification of relerant
facts and the law to be applied thereto a lawyer uses his logic to correlate
them.
A precedent is primariy a case law which serves as an authornty for
deciding a similar case. In many instances, case-laws have plared ar
important part in the interpretation of statutes. Case-law consists of the
rules and principles stated and acted upon by judges in giving decisions. In
a system based on case-law, a judge in a subsequent case has to decide the
case before himn in the same way as that in which the previous case was
 Collection of Data in Legal Research 337

decided unless he can give a good reason for not doing so. That means,
mnust be decided in the same way when their material facts are the
cases
same. Of course, it does not require that all the facts should be the sane.
Case law consists of the rules and principles stated and acted upon by
judges in giving decisions. The case laws are the necessary subject
the
matterin any doctrinal enquiry because the law declared by Supreme Court
High Courts is binding on the subordinate courts. The Indian law is
and of case law. That is, the decision in a particular case
largely a system
constitute precedent'. According to the doctrine of precedent, it is not
everything stated by a judge when giving judgment that constitutes
precedent. But only the reason for the decision given in the judgment
constitute precedent. So, the reason stated in the judgnment of an appeal
cAse
becomes a necessary subject-matter of inquiry and analysis by a
lawyer.
Case laws are the secondary source of data to the researchers. While
legal
reading the case laws, the researcher may come across a problem of
iSSue and he can form a hypothesis, run an empirical inquiry and thus
conduct the research.
arguments in deductive
Case laws are the evidential source for the
judges and researchers use case laws for their logical
analysis. The lawyers, the
argumentation. Thus, case laws become the documentary source of data
in legal studies.
(Secondary
Documentary Source of Data for Legal Studies
SOurces of Data)
sources. P.V. Young has
Data can be made available from different
(1) Documentary, and (2) Field
classified the data into two groups:material already collected whether
sources. LDocumentary sources include
be obtained from libraries and
published or unpublished. Such data can
documents.
from persons and public
contains matters of socio-legal
A legal document is anything that written in the past when the
importance. Most of the documents are the
prepared for the study of
phenomena took place and are not specially
divided into two categories : ()
present problem. Documents can be
documents provide primary data
Primary, and (ii) Secondary. Primary authority that originally prepared
collection which is compiled by the same provide data that has been
documents
those documents. Secondary sources. All documents are not
ranscribed or compiled from original documents were categorized by
available in published form. The published
into : (i) personal documents, and (ii) public or official
bonn Madge
documents.
Personal Documents (Direct Source)
documents include all such written material as is written by
Fersonal
narrate his views upon personal relationship or social
Vidual to from personal point of
phenomena. Most of these documents are written as : (i) life
View, There are many· kinds of personal documents such
 338 Logal Rosoarch Mothodology
histories, (ii) diarios, (ii) lottors und (iv) memoirs,
Lifo histories includes all biographical m
material, even
The author of a life history rocords his personal views about
happenings. Such writingH provo a usoful HOurce of material
Diaries are another important source of information, Ín a for
recorded in a regular manner. In a diary, the author'
mudiary,tcoobrneiotseventseyemararpcpohhreiaerrssy,..
personal
are reflected. Letters are another valuable tool of the
are
socio-legal
limitations. Some persons writo their memoirs in which theyhave Tesear
They contain the facts of the phenomena, But Jetters
r cheron,
experiences
the main events of their social life. recordthei80me of
Importance of Personal Documnents
The personal documents express the inner-most feelings of
the heart of
the writer and at times, these documents throw light on such aspecte
as would have been didifficult to know through observation or
generally, are more reliable both as regards the description of interview.
the They,as
well as the feelings of the writer. They contain the perfect type of subject
material necessary to characterise the life of social group. socio-legal
Limitations of Personal Documents
(1) The availability of personal documents may be difficult if they
contain some confessions which are likely to damage his reputation.
(2) Unreliability of the data may be there due to personal bias of the
writer.
(3) Personal documents do not provide a representative sample and
the document may not be considered as a valid one.
Public Documents or Official Documents
Public documents also supply a huge fund of information. They deal
with different subjects and are usually published by various institutions,
organisations and associations. Records, parliamentary debates, judgments,
ete. are regarded as important public documents. These documents are
easily available and, to a large extent, also reliable. The public documents
may be in the form of unpublished records and published documents. Agood
deal of information regarding socio-legal problems is now collected and
released for publication by the Government.
Documentary Sources of Legal Material
(1) Central Legislative Material in Gazettes of India
Generally, all current legislative materials such as Bills, Acts, Rules,
Notifications, etc. are published in the Gazette of India. The relevant
portions of the 'Gazette of India' dealing with legislative material can be of
much use for a researcher.
(2) Official Publications of Central Acts
'Indian Code' is one of official publications containing all the Acts in
force in India. 'Acts of Parliament is another publication containing all the
bare Acts passed in a particular year.
 Collection of Data in Legal Research
339
Caneral Statutory Kules and Orders' is the
the Rules,
Orders and official publication of all
Notifications issued
which are in force. To trace the material, the
by the Central Government
traced by consulting the Index to Indian Code'. subject heading should be
eIInion
Government
such as Lawpublishes the reports of various Committees
and Commissions Commission of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Committee onIndia, Commission for
Pay Commission, Finance Commission, Sarkaria Commission Public etc.
Undertakings,
(3) State Gazettes
mhe State statutes are published in the
respective State gazettes. Some
States have published State Codes.
(4) Private Publications
The privately published case reports may have a section
dealing with
Central as well as State legislative materials. The All India Reporter is one
ofsuch reputed legal periodical. The publishers of All India Reporter' have
published AIR Manuals' in multiple volumes. These volumes contain
Central and State legislative materials.
Madras Law Journal has also published a manual known as Civil
Court Manual.
(5) Departmental Publications
Afew Government departments do publish manuals from time to time
siving the latest rules and notifications on their respective subjects. 'Central
Excise Manual, Civil Services Manual', Customs Manual, Income Tax
Manual', Foreign Exchange Manual' are some of them to be mentioned.
(6) Delegated Legislation
Statutory materials concerning delegated legislation can be found in
the Gazette of India' and State Gazettes.
() Publications
The publications like Constituent Assembly Debates', Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha Debates' may offer information regarding the pre-legislative
discussions in the research area.
(8) Reports
The Federal Court Reports, (1939-50) and Supreme Court Reports'
(Since 1950) published the cases decided by them. Private publications like
Al India Reporter", Supreme Court Journal, 'Supreme Court Cases'High also
Teport the case decisions of the Supreme Court. The case decisions of
Ourts are also published in All India Reporter', Madras Law Journal,
Bombay Law Reporter, etc.
(9) Specialized Law Reporter
branches giving
The following are reports specialized on certain
information(i)
on specialized branches
Labour Law Journal
(ii) Labour and Industrial Cases
 340 Legal Research Methodology
(iii) Industrial Court Reporter
(iv) Criminal Law Journal
(v) Income Tax Reports
(vi) Company cases and Sales Tax cases, ete.
(10) Contribution of Individual Academicians
Such as
(i) Indian Legal Materials (1970) and Law
Library
and Reference (1972) by H.C. Jain published
Institute, New Delhi.
(ii) A Bibliography of Indian Laws (1958) by Charles
AdmiIndiannistratioLawn
by

Alexandrowicz (Ed) published by Oxford University Press Henry

(11) Academic Law Journals
The Journal of Indian Law Institute", Indian Journal of
Law are some of the journals which carry research articles. International
Review', «The Administrator', Banaras Law Review, Civil and'Academy
Military
Law
Law
Journal, etc. also belong to this category.
(12) Citators' and Digests'
They help a researcher to locate topic-wise materials. The AJR
published Fifty Years Digests (1901-1950) and Fifteen Years Digests
(1951-1965) etc. Income Tax Digest, Company Law Digest, Labour Lav
Digest etc. are some of the Digests which are specialised in the particular
fields.
(13) Index to Legal Periodical and ndex to Foreign Legal
Periodicals'
They may help the researcher to find the article relevant to his
research and locate the name of the journal, volume and number in which
that has been published.
(14) Law Libraries
They are the workshops to the legal researchers. Law library is not
just a place where books and periodicals are housed, but it is a place where
books are classified and placed in an orderly manner so as to provide easy
access to the researchers.

Importance of Documents
(1) They can help to save timne, money and energy. There is no need to
purchase books. There is no need to go from place to place as they are
available in a library.
(2) Data is collected periodically, making the establishment of trends
over timne possible.
(3) The documentary sources do not require the cooperation of ne
individuals about whom the information is desired.
(4) There will be no scope for the bias of the investigator.
(5) Available records may be used to supplement or to check
 Collection of Data in Legal Research 341
information gathered specifically for the purpose of a given investigation.
(6) Past events can be known from the documentary source.
(2 They can be quoted as authoritative.
Limitations of Documentary Data
No-reliability of Data,It may be that the data might have
been deliberately twisted because the researcher had a stake in a particular
result or he was not equipped with the knowledge of methodology.
vO No-suitability of Data,-Even if the data is
accurate, it may
ho suitable for the purpose of present study. The data may be old and
out ofdate.
(2) Lack of Direct [Link] dependence on documents leads to
lackof direct contact with the people.