Alegal treatise is a scholarlylegal publication containing all the law relating to a particular area, such ascriminal law ortrusts and estates. There is no fixed usage on what books qualify as a "legal treatise", with the term being used broadly to define books written for practicingattorneys andjudges, textbooks for law students, and explanatory texts for laypersons.[1] The treatise may generally be loose leaf bound with rings or posts so that updates to laws covered by the treatise and annotated by the editor may be added by the subscriber to the legal treatise.
Legal treatises aresecondary authority, and can serve as a useful starting point forlegal research, particularly when the researcher lacks familiarity with a particular area of law.Lawyers commonly use legal treatises in order to review the law and update their knowledge of pertinentprimary authority namely,case law,statutes, andadministrative regulations. Despite beingsecondary authority, select treatises are frequently cited in court decisions, including opinions of theSupreme Court of the United States.[2] Indeed, certain early treatises likeWilliam Blackstone'sCommentaries on the Laws of England and LordEdward Coke'sInstitutes of the Lawes of England have shown a marked increase in citation in the last three decades.
Inlaw schools, treatises are sometimes used as additional study materials, as treatises often cover legal subjects at a higher level of detail than mostcasebooks do. Certain treatises, calledhornbooks, are used by American law students as supplements to casebooks. Hornbooks are usually one volume – sometimes a briefer version of a longer, multi-volume treatise written by a recognized legal scholar.
