Legal Research
• Getting Started
When undertaking legal research it is best to begin by consulting Secondary Materials such as
books, journals, legal dictionaries and encyclopedias. These will provide the broader legal
context of an issue, alert you to areas of uncertainty and debate, as well as referring to key
legislation and cases.
*A to Z guide to legal phrases (Legal language / English)* hyper link
Guide to legal phrases via this link
Studying law, some of the subjects include *here* hyper link
Cardiff index to legal abbreviations
This database allows you to search for the meaning of abbreviations for English language legal
publications. It mainly covers English law reports
Sources of Law
Primary sources
Find case Law
Law Reporting & Reports
Find Legislation
Secondary sources
Legal Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Find Journal Articles & Databases
Find Books
Legal Commentary
Law Reform
Reports
Find Secondary Sources on the Web
Constitution of Uganda
The constitution is the supreme law of Uganda. The fourth and current constitution was
promulgated on 8th October 1995. Unlike the previous ones, this involved the citizenry with
nationwide consultations and a review commission.
The 1995 Constitution established Uganda as a republic with an executive, legislative, and
judicial branch. The roles and powers of each of the Government arms are enshrined and spelt
out in the Uganda Constitution 1995
The 1995 Constitution has been amended twice since its promulgation. In 2005 and in 2017
The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (as at 15th February 2006) other sources of the
constitution at BSU Law Library include Reprints of KARL’S Laws of Uganda Acts 2001 – 2013
and Laws of Uganda as of 31st December
Uganda’s Constitution of 1995 with amendments through 2017 can be downloaded *here*
hyperlink
Other useful textbooks to read about constitutionalism include Constitutional and political
history of Uganda from 1894 to the present by Kanyeihamba, George W.
Legislation
The library has post-colonial legislations of Uganda these include:
• Acts of parliament
• Decrees from 1971 - 1979
• Principal Legislation (a mixture of statutes, acts, ordinance & decrees)
There are many inconsistent terminologies in the description of Uganda Laws. This is attributed
to the different types of political – legal systems.
The revision and consolidation of Uganda Laws should be every after 10 years. The latest
revision available in the Library, is the 2000 Revised Laws of Uganda constituting both Acts and
Subsidiary Legislation.
Secondary sources of legislation
The law library has the following:
Compendiums of electoral, commercial, banking and insurance laws;
Kampala Law Reports (KALR) Criminal, Family and Civil Practice Legislation
Juta’s Criminal Practice Legislation
Statutes and Cases on about Law in Uganda
Individual Re-prints of certain laws like the Workers’ Compensation Act No. 8 of 2000.
Law Reports
Law reports contain details of rulings of national and international courts, generally including a
full transcript of the judgment. Find all law reports here in the library catalogue
The BSU Law Library holds publications of the official Ugandan Law Reports
The Uganda Protectorate Law Reports 1904 – 1920, 1936 – 1951
The Uganda Law Reports 1936 – 1951, 1970 – 1971 & part 1 & 2 of 1972 and 2000/ 2012
volumes in parts respectively.
High Court Bulletins
All Law England Reports & East African Reports
The following constitute the Un-Official Reports:
Kampala Law Reports 1989 – 2009
Law Reporting
The Judiciary of Uganda has a law reporting department. Currently it carries out online
publication of case law and laws of Uganda. The cases are published on the Uganda Legal
Information Institute (ULII)
Among the publications include;
• Legally significant decisions of courts
• Legislation
• Treaties and some publicly available secondary legal material created by public bodies
for purposes of public access for example the JLOS (Justice Law and Order Sector) and
the ULRC (Uganda Law Reform Commission)
Finding a Case in a Print Law Report.
If you do not have a law report citation for a case, you can use the print volumes of the High
Court Bulletins (HCBs) e.g.
Three Ways Shipping Services (Group) Ltd v MTN (U) Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 103 of
2015) [2017] UGCommC 249 (4 July 2017)
If you do not recognise the All England Law Report series referenced in the citation, use a legal
abbreviations index, such as the online Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations, to determine its full
title
1. Citation is Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority [1987] AC 750
2. Abbreviation AC = Law Reports Appeal Cases
3. Locate the case, open the 1987 volume at page 750 for the case report of Hotson v East
Berkshire Area Health Authority
Citing References
Whenever you refer to another person's work in your own essay, dissertation or article you
must acknowledge them and give full details of your source. You risk being accused of
plagiarism if you fail to do so. BSU uses the APA reference system * download the reference
and citation guide here*
Legal writing citation in a nutshell by Lary L. Teply
This generic guide to citing references includes details of using the bluebook
The blue book: a uniform system of citation
The Bluebook is a guide to a system of legal citation frequently used by law schools and law
journals. This guide will introduce you to how to use the Bluebook
