I'd think this is immediately obvious.

One issue is that a thread does not always know what locks it needs 
before the fact.  And if you hold a lock and want to get another with a 
lower key then you have to release the lock you hold then go back and 
get them in the right order.

As to references, Wikipedia 'Deadlock' article is a decent starting 
point.  Many more erudite references are given there.

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