LEGAL PROBLEM SOLVING

Question 1

What are primary and secondary sources?

Answer 1

Primary sources are the law itself, and secondary sources summarise and comment upon that law.

Question 2

What does the phrase ‘handed down’ refer to?

Answer 2

The practice of judges approving judgements before they are released i.e they approve the transcript.

Question 3

What are law reports?

Answer 3

Commercial publications. They reproduce the judgement and a review of the facts and reasoning behind the decision. This includes catchwords that summarise the main legal aspects of the case.

Question 4

Should Law Reports be cited?

Answer 4

Yes, and in student essays.

Question 5

Explain citing a case.

Answer 5

Presenting an authority to the court to establish a certain legal proposition. They identify cases by notation.

Question 6

When finding a law report of a case, if only a neutral citation of a case is available, what does this mean?

Answer 6

Your case will not be reported in any of the law reports series. Instead, you can use the citation to find a transcript of the judgement.

Question 7

What are the different types of citations?

Answer 7

Case citations and neutral citations.

Question 8

Why were neutral citations introduced?

Answer 8

In order for courts to publish transcripts on the internet with a consistent numbering process. They look a lot like law report citations though, confusingly.

Question 9

What does affirmed mean?

Answer 9

The court agrees with the decision of a lower court on the same case.

Question 10

What does applied mean?

Answer 10

The court regards itself bound by a decision in an earlier, different case, and has used the same legal reasoning in the present case.

Question 11

What does approved mean?

Answer 11

A higher court states that a different case was correctly decided by a lower court.

Question 12

What does considered mean?

Answer 12

The court discussed a different case, often one decided by a court of equal status.

Question 13

What does distinguished mean?

Answer 13

Where a court has no power or wish to overrule an earlier different case or apply it. They have found a compelling difference meaning it doesn’t need to follow it as precedent.

Question 14

What does overruled mean?

Answer 14

Where the court overturns a decision in a different case of a court of lower, sometimes equal, status.

Question 15

What does reversing mean?

Answer 15

Where a higher court of appeal overturns the decision of a lower court on the same case.

Question 16

What does semble mean?

Answer 16

‘appears’, where a court gives its opinion on a point that is not directly before it.

Question 17

What are senior councel called?

Answer 17

QCs, queen’s councel.

Question 18

When reading a statutory act, what should you do?

Answer 18

Refer back to the parent act, for statutory acts are secondary legislation.

Question 19

What does the court of justice of the European Union refer collectively to?

Answer 19

The court of justice and the general court.

Question 20

How does EU law differ from UK law?

Answer 20

Before judgements are reached in the court of justice, the advocate general usually delivers an ‘opinion’, and the way the laws are cited differ.

Question 21

What is EU primary legislation and secondary?

Answer 21

Primary= made up of the founding Treaties which established the EU Community, plus later amending treaties.

Secondary= regulates how the objectives stated in the Treaties are to be implemented.

Question 22

Where is EU legislation printed?

Answer 22

Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) on a daily basis.

Question 23

What are the two most common types of secondary EU legislation?

Answer 23

Regulations and directives.

Question 24

What is truncation?

Answer 24

A symbol that you use after a word, allowing you to search variations of that word e.g penalty! on some databases would search for penalty and penalties.