A journal (also known as a periodical) is basically an academic magazine.
Journals are published at regular intervals (e.g. weekly, or monthly, or quarterly), so they are good for keeping you up to date with legal developments.
Law journals contain articles by learned authors, such as academics or judges. By reading these articles, you can enhance your understanding of legal issues.
If a case hasn't been officially reported, a journal may be the only source where you can find details of a case. Law journals also contain commentaries on cases - analysis of why a case is significant and which legal points were raised.
Often the title of a law journal will be referred to using an abbreviation, e.g. CLJ for Cambridge Law Journal or LJIL for Leiden Journal of International Law.
The Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations allows you to search either by abbreviation or publication name, whereas Raistrick's Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations allows you to find a publication's full name if you know its abbreviation.
If you were looking for: Donal Nolan, 'Varying the Standard of Care in Negligence' (2013) 72 CLJ 651 in a print law journal, first check what 'CLJ' means (see 'What is a law journal abbreviation?', above). In this case, CLJ is the abbreviation for Cambridge Law Journal. Then, look for the journal on the library shelves. Locate volume 72, 2013 and turn to page 651.
Most of the law journals available from the library are e-journals, which you can access online both on- and off-campus. You can browse or search our e-journals using mySearch.
You can find print law journals on the second floor of The Sir Michael Cobham Library. These items are reference only.
A law journal article is usually referred to by a citation, which tells you who wrote the article and where you can find it:
To access an e-journal article off-campus, normally you will need to enter your university login details. Some law journals (e.g. Media Lawyer) have individual login details. You can find these on the Library area in Brightspace. Click on the link 'Usernames and Passwords' in the centre column.