Secondary authorities are:

• A. The binding law
• B. Comment, discussion, and explanation of primary authorities
• C. Primary sources from other jurisdictions
• D. Constitutional provisions

Answer: (B)

Secondary authorities are commentaries, discussions, and explanations of primary authorities that help you understand and locate binding law. They don’t themselves set rules; instead, they interpret, summarize, or analyze statutes, cases, and regulations so you can grasp how the law works and find the controlling sources.

Examples include treatises, law review articles, practice guides, legal encyclopedias, and the Restatements of Law. These materials are persuasive and informative, guiding you through complex topics and showing how authorities fit together, but they are not binding.

Primary sources, in contrast, are the actual rules you must follow—statutes, constitutions, regulations, and judicial decisions. So constitutional provisions and primary sources from other jurisdictions are binding or persuasive primary authorities, not secondary ones.