Doctrinal Research:

Doctrinal Research:

Doctrinal research is concerned with legal preposition and doctrines. It is research into the law and legal concepts. The sources of data are legal and appellate court decisions.

·         (1) Doctrinal research methodology includes legal concepts and principles of all types – cases, statutes, and rules.

o    ‘Doctrine’ has been defined as ‘[a] synthesis of various rules, principles, norms, interpretive guidelines and values. It explains, makes coherent or justifies a segment of the law as part of a larger system of law. Doctrines can be more or less abstract, binding or non-binding’.

·         (2) Doctrinal research methodology is a discrete method.

o    Discrete means consisting of or characterized by distinct or individual parts; discontinuous.

o    It is not sufficiently delineated for the current research environment. [Hutchinson and Duncan, 2012].

·         (3) Doctrinal method is normally a two-part process, because it involves first locating the sources of the law and then interpreting and analysing the text.

o    First part of doctrinal methodology: Locate the sources of law.

o    Once the documents are located and read, the application of such techniques, along with a description of, for example, the use of deductive logic, inductive reasoning and analogy where appropriate, would constitute the second part of the methodology.

·         (4) Every research project, no matter what methodology is being used, needs a literature review.

o    The literature review is basically asking: What Testimony is available on your topic? ‘Testimony’ can include the secondary literature – texts, journal articles, government reports, policy documents, law reform documents and media reports. Just like any other research, doctrinal research requires background research of secondary commentary and sources as a first step.

o    Doctrinal research also requires a trained expert in legal doctrine to read and analyse the law – the primary sources: the legislation and case law. Doctrinal research is not simply the locating of secondary information. It includes that intricate step of ‘reading, analysing and linking’ the new information to the known body of law.

·         (5) Doctrinal research has aspects of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies within it.

o    Many aspects of the law are contingent on context, and need to be interpreted and analysed for meaning. Therefore the analytical, legal reasoning aspect of the process is necessarily a qualitative one. When a researcher undertakes doctrinal work, the outcome is totally dependent on the voice and experience of the individual.

Now, here are the steps involved in the problem-based doctrinal research methodology used by practitioners and students directed to solving a specific legal problem:

·         (1) Assembling relevant facts.

·         (2) Identifying the legal issues.

·         (3) Analysing the issues with a view to searching for the law.

·         (4) Reading background material (including legal dictionaries, legal encyclopaedias, textbooks, law reform and policy papers, loose leaf services, journal articles).

·         (5) Locating primary material (including legislation, delegated legislation and case law.

·         (6) Synthesising all the issues in context.

·         (7) Coming to a tentative conclusion.