Legal Authority

Any published source of law setting forth legal rules, legal doctrines or
legal reasoning that can be used as basis for legal decision
Authority that will aid in finding a solution to a legal problem

TYPES of Legal Authority

1. PRIMARY AUTHORITY
- Authorized statements of law issued by governmental bodies
- The ones which the court must rely on in making decision/s
2. Secondary Authority
- Statement about the law and are used to summarize, compile, explain,
interpret, comment on, or in some other way address the law
- The ones that the court may consider
Can be used in several ways:
-

To obtain a background or overall understanding of a specific area of law

To locate primary authority (the law) on a question being searched
May be relied upon by the court when reaching a decision, w/c usually
occurs only when there is no primary authority governing a legal question
or it is unclear how the primary authority applies to the question

ROLE of Authority
Primary Mandatory (binding)
-

Must be followed because it is the legal authority for a particular

jurisdiction
Ex. Statute, constitution, rules and regulations, Judicial decisions

Secondary Persuasive (non-binding)

-

Any authority a court is not bound to consider or follow, but may consider
or follow when reaching a decision
Interpreted by judiciary
May be foreign in nature but has the authority
Ex. Treatises, Case Digests, Commentaries of Legal Expert