Learning legal rules : A students' guide to legal method and reasoning / James Holland and Julian Webb

Contents
Machine generated contents note: 1.Understanding the Law
1.1.Introduction
1.2.What is Law?
1.3.A Sample Legal Problem
1.4.The Functions of Law
1.5.Regulation: Legal Rules and Social Rules
1.6.Parliament and Legislation
1.7.The Courts
1.8.The Importance of Procedural Law
1.9.English Law and the European Convention on Human Rights
1.10.English Law and the European Union
Conclusion
2.Finding the Law
2.1.Law and Legal Information in a Digital Society
2.2.Developing Your Information and Research Skills
2.3.Literary Sources
2.4.Cases
2.5.Legislation
2.6.EU Law
2.7.Online Resources
3.Reading the Law
3.1.Reading Legislation
3.2.Reading Cases
3.3.Reading Books and Articles
4.From Reading to Writing
4.1.Writing Legal Essays
4.2.Answering Legal Problems
4.3.How to Present Your Answer
4.4.Planning Your Answers
4.5.Referencing Your Work
4.6.How Are Law Essays Marked?
Contents note continued: Conclusion
5.Law, Fact, and Language
5.1.Law and Fact
5.2.Law and Language
5.3.Fact, Language, and the Judicial Construction of Cases
6.The Doctrine of Judicial Precedent
6.1.Introduction
6.2.The Idea of Binding Precedent (Stare Decisis)
6.3.Establishing the Principle in a Case
6.4.The Mechanics of Stare Decisis
6.5.Are there any other Exceptions to the Application of Stare Decisis to the Court of Appeal that have Emerged since 1944?
6.6.Does Every Case have to be Heard by the Court of Appeal before it can Proceed to the Supreme Court?
6.7.Precedent in the Higher Courts: Summary
6.8.Other Courts
6.9.Impact of Human Rights Legislation
7.How Precedent Operates: Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum
7.1.Introduction
7.2.Development of Case Law
7.3.Trying to Define Ratio Decidendi
7.4.Perception and Ratio
7.5.Ratio and Interpretation
7.6.Summary of Points Covered
Contents note continued: 7.7.Obiter Dictum
7.8.How Precedents Develop
7.9.Answering Legal Questions on Precedent
7.10.Material Facts
7.11.What Can Happen to a Case?
7.12.The Postal Rule Cases
7.13.The `Uncertainty Principle' of Cases
8.Making Sense of Statutes
8.1.Introduction
8.2.Drafting Styles
8.3.The Problems of Drafting Statutes in English Law
8.4.Examples of Drafting Practices and How to Approach Them
8.5.Amending Earlier Statutes
8.6.Other Points on Drafting
8.7.European Legislative Drafting
8.8.The Style of EU Legislation
9.Interpreting Statutes
9.1.Introduction
9.2.The So-called Rules of Interpretation
9.3.Examples of the `Rules' in Action
9.4.Secondary Aids to Construction
9.5.The Use of Hansard
9.6.From Rules to Reality
9.7.Interpretation and the European Union
9.8.Interpretation and the Human Rights Act 1998
9.9.Interpreting Secondary Legislation
Contents note continued: 9.10.Illustration of How to Analyse a Case on Statutory Interpretation
10.`Bringing Rights Home': Legal Method and the Convention Rights
10.1.Introduction
10.2.The European Convention on Human Rights
10.3.Incorporation under the Human Rights Act 1998
10.4.Incorporation under the Devolution Acts
10.5.The Consequences for Legal Method (1): Statutory Interpretation
10.6.The Consequences for Legal Method (2): Precedent
10.7.Legal Research and Argumentation
10.8.The Future of the Human Rights Act 342 Conclusion
11.European Legal Method
11.1.The Sources of European Union Law
11.2.The Institutions
11.3.Analytical Techniques Employed by European Lawyers
11.4.The Effect of EU Law on the Drafting and Interpretation of UK Legislation
12.Exploiting Legal Reasoning
12.1.Logic and Legal Reasoning
12.2.The Limits of Logic
12.3.The Decision Analysis Method.

Includes bibliographical references and index.