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week 4
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Lecture notes of 2 pages for the course Criminal Law at UoW (criminal law skills)
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Module SkillsReading cases;
- Most weeks you will be asked to read a couple of core cases relating to the topic
- You will be required to read the actual judgement, which can be found on Westlaw UK or LExislaw
- Avoid only reading summaries of cases, because they largely focus on the facts
- - textbooks
- - headnotes
- - online resources
- Do not rely on these ^
Approaching a case
- You can start reading from the first paragraph of the leading opinion - you do not need to know
information about lawyers etc
- The lead opinion is where you will find the facts, as well as the ratio decidendi
- Identify the material facts and reasons for the decision from this
- Do not forget about concurring and dissenting opinions - they can provide us with valuable insights into
the law, and can be really important in our analytical discussions
Making use of journal articles
- These are a great way to better understand how the law works and provide a critical insight into the law
- Peer reviews articles can be very helpful, particularly when analysing the law in essay questions
- However they do not always help with the application of the law
Approaching an article
- Read the abstract first - manage expectations and guide you through the main points
- Make use of the heading to help focus attention
- Read through slowly
- Make key notes and quotes
Answer essay questions
A good answer
- Focus on answering the question
- Shows a detailed knowledge of the topic and the wider context
- Is well structured and written in good english
- Presents a clear argument
- Is critical in its analysis
- Is accurate and contains no/ very few legal or factual errors
- Addresses issues that may not be immediately obvious
- Supports any claims with reference to legal authority
How to do this
- Have good knowledge of the law - flexible
- Read question carefully
- Plan answer
- Not each of your arguments/ points
- Identify authoritative sources
- Write essaye piece by piece
Answering problem questions
A good answer -
- Focuses on applying the current law to the scenario given
- Identifies all of the issues presented in the scenario
- Provides a breakdown of each of the relevant offences, defences and further issues
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