Civil Law
Civil law study guide
Chapter 1
1. Why does the study of law involve more than simply memorizing rules? simply memorizing the holding or "rule" of a case, you must be able to identify the particular factors that led the court to decide the case the way it did, and then determine whether those same factors are present in the case you're now considering.
2. What is legal reasoning? The applying of the legal rules to a client’s specific factual situation
3. What is the doctrine of stare decisis, and why is it important? Stare decisis mean that if a court has decided one way on a particular issue in the past, in all likelihood it and other courts in the same jurisdiction will decide the same way on that issue in future cases given and similar set of facts. This is important because the results of a case will depend on how courts have handles similar situations in the pasIf different factors are present,
4. Why is it important to know whether a client’s facts are analogous to or distinguishable from those in prior court decisions? This will help you analyze how similar situations were handled in the past. If the cases are similar (analogous), it is likely that the results in the client’s case will be similar to the result reached in the prior case. If the cases are different (distinguishable), then the results in the client’s case will be different than the prior case.
5. What is a cause of action? What does it mean to say that a person does not have a valid cause of action? Cause of action is a claim that based on the law and the facts is sufficient to support a lawsuit. If client does not have a valid cause of action means there is no legal remedy to support the case.
6. Why does law change and should it?
7. Why is there no one right answer to a legal problem? Litigants have different view points as to which of two competing values is the more important.
8. Should it be the attorney or the paralegal who signs a client letter that analyzes the law?
Chapter 1
1. Why does the study of law involve more than simply memorizing rules? simply memorizing the holding or "rule" of a case, you must be able to identify the particular factors that led the court to decide the case the way it did, and then determine whether those same factors are present in the case you're now considering.
2. What is legal reasoning? The applying of the legal rules to a client’s specific factual situation
3. What is the doctrine of stare decisis, and why is it important? Stare decisis mean that if a court has decided one way on a particular issue in the past, in all likelihood it and other courts in the same jurisdiction will decide the same way on that issue in future cases given and similar set of facts. This is important because the results of a case will depend on how courts have handles similar situations in the pasIf different factors are present,
4. Why is it important to know whether a client’s facts are analogous to or distinguishable from those in prior court decisions? This will help you analyze how similar situations were handled in the past. If the cases are similar (analogous), it is likely that the results in the client’s case will be similar to the result reached in the prior case. If the cases are different (distinguishable), then the results in the client’s case will be different than the prior case.
5. What is a cause of action? What does it mean to say that a person does not have a valid cause of action? Cause of action is a claim that based on the law and the facts is sufficient to support a lawsuit. If client does not have a valid cause of action means there is no legal remedy to support the case.
6. Why does law change and should it?
7. Why is there no one right answer to a legal problem? Litigants have different view points as to which of two competing values is the more important.
8. Should it be the attorney or the paralegal who signs a client letter that analyzes the law?