Sports Law: Secondary Legal Sources

To find treatises on Sports Law and related topics, use the Law Library’s (or another library’s) online public access catalog (OPAC), or use the WORLDCAT database available to Villanova students through Falvey Library, the main campus library (use the “Databases A-Z” link on the Falvey Library website).  Some suggested material is listed below:

Use legal dictionaries to define unfamiliar legal terms:

BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY in Westlaw

Wex:  Cornell Legal Information Institute

Legal Encyclopedia provide a concise introduction to the full scope of a subject, along with citations to primary and secondary sources of law that illustrate the discussion of various issues.  Some suggested works appear below:

American Jurisprudence 2d

Corpus Juris Secundum

Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia (Third Floor, KFP65 .P4 1957).

Standard Pennsylvania Practice 2d (Reserve, KFP350 .S72 1981)

Summary of Pennsylvania Jurisprudence 2d (Third Floor, KFP65 .S86 1991).

The American Law Reports series, including American Law Reports, American Law Reports Federal, and American Law Reports International, provide in-depth analysis of selected legal topics along with extensive citation to primary authorities.  American Law Reports are available on Lexis Advance and Westlaw.

Pennsylvania Bar Institute publications provide information on handling selected legal matters in Pennsylvania.  The following suggested titles focus on Sports Law practice:

Research law reviews and journals dealing with Sports Law matters using legal periodical indexes and databases such as Lexis Advance, WestLaw, and Heinonline.  The following are selected Sports Law journals available in print in the Villanova Law Library:

DePaul Journal of Sports Law & Contemporary Problems (Lower Level, K4 .E76)

Marquette Sports Law Review (Lower Level, K13 .A76)

The Sports Lawyers Journal (Lower Level, K23 .P75)

Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law (Lower Level, K24 .E9)

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (Lower Level, K26 .I58)

Check the Library’s OPAC, search.law.villanova.edu, for more print journals.

Practice Guides are designed to aid the preparation and actual litigation of cases.  The following suggested titles are available electronically through Lexis Advance and Westlaw:

American Jurisprudence Legal Forms 2d

American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms Annotated

American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts 

American Jurisprudence Trials

Causes of Action

Dunlap-Hanna Pennsylvania Forms (Hornbook Reserve, KFP68 .A6 .D92)

Federal Practice and Procedure (Reserve; Third Floor, KF8754 .W93)

Study Aids provide vital background information on selected legal topics.  The following titles are suggested for Sports Law students and practitioners: 

Compiled by the American Law Institute, Restatements of the Law are authoritative secondary sources featuring concise statements of legal rules, commentary, discussions of the rules applied to hypothetical situations, and citation to cases.  Check the catalog for print versions of the Restatements, or see the list of Restatement publications from the American Law Institute website.  Restatements are also available electronically on Lexis Advance and Westlaw.