Contents:
1. THE DIVISIONS OF THE LAW-1;
Crimes and civil wrongs-3;
The courts-4;
Courts with civil jurisdiction-5;
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)-6;
County courts-7;
Magistrates' courts-7;
Appeals to the Supreme Court-8;
Courts with criminal jurisdiction-10;
The classification of offences-10;
Crown Court-11;
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)-12;
The terminology of criminal procedure-14;
Other courts-15;
European Court of Justice-15;
European Court of Human Rights-15;
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council-15;
Other courts and tribunals-16;
Elementary legal terminology-16;
Civil terminology-17;
Criminal terminology-17;
Classification of civil wrongs-18;
Public and private law-20;
Common law and equity-21;
Legislation-21;
Common law-21;
Equity-22;
Common law as made by the judges-24;
Further reading-24;
2. THE MECHANISM OF SCHOLARSHIP-25;
Navigation the Law Library-27;
The Law Library-27;
Law reports-28;
Neutral citation-31;
Court of Appeal-31;
High Court-31;
The structure of a law report-32
The commercially published and specialist law reports-33;
The English Reports-34;
How to find a reference-37;
Abbreviations: law reports and periodicals-39;
Scottish decisions-39;
Two references given-40;
Square and round brackets-40;
Electronic searching-40;
Titles of cases-41;
Pronouncing case names-42;
Statutes-43;
The state of the statute book-43;
The citation of statutes-45;
The parts of a statute-45;
Statutory instruments-46;
Periodicals-46;
3. THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION-49;
The European Union-49;
The principal institutions-51;
Council of Ministers-51;
The European Council-51;
Commission-52;
European Parliament-52;
European Court of Justice-53;
The role of the court: the preliminary ruling procedure-54;
Court of Auditors-54;
Other relevant institutions-55;
Sources of law-55;
The law-making procedure-57;
Official publications-57;
Official Journal-58;
How to cite legislative Acts-58;
Citation of court reports-59;
Other publications-60;
Databases-61;
EUROPA-61;
EUR-Lex-61;
CELEX-61
European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998-61;
European Court of Human Rights-63;
Publications-63;
European Court-63;
Commission-64;
Human Rights Act 1998-64;
The influence of Europe-a preliminary assessment-65;
4. METHODS OF STUDY-69;
Textbooks-69;
Cases and Materials Books-72;
Lectures and classes-74;
Taking notes-74;
Using shorthand—75;
The study of history-79;
5. TECHNICAL TERMS-83;
Latin and French-83;
Dictionaries-84;
Pronunciation-85;
Legal abbreviations-88;
Judicial titles-88;
Citations and cross-references-90;
6. CASE LAW TECHNIQUE-93;
Ration decidendi-93;
Distinguishing-99;
Obiter dictum-103;
How much of a case to remember-105;
Divergent opinions-107;
The hierarchy of authority-108;
Precedent in the House of Lords and Supreme Court-109;
Court of Appeal-111;
Divisional Court-115;
Circumstances affecting the weight of a decision-117;
Judicial law-making-118;
Further reading-120;
7. THE INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES-121;
Structure of a statute-122;
The importance of context-122;
Definition sections-124;
Interpretation in the light of policy: fringe meaning-124;
The literal rule-127;
A "purposive" approach: the mischief rule-130;
Pepper v Hart-131;
Interpretations to avoid absurdity: the golden rule-135;
Presumptions-136;
Human Rights Act 1998, s.3-139;
Further reading-142;
8. WORKING OUT PROBLEMS-143
Facts stated in the problem are conclusive-144;
Omitted facts-145;
Two points of technique-149;
Rules and authorities-149;
Doubt-155;
Problems on statutes-155;
Relevancy-160;
Questions divided into parts-161;
The overlapping of subjects-164;
Answering problems in criminal law-164;
Answering problems in tort-166;
9. ANSWERING ESSAY QUESTIONS-167;
Subdivided questions-167;
Relevancy-168;
Gelling at the point-172;
Introducing cases into an answer-174;
The succinct way of stating cases-176;
Criticism-177;
Use of forensic mannerisms-177;
The arrangement and wording of the answer-178;
10. IN THE EXAM ROOM-181;
First read the paper-182;
Choice of questions-183;
Names of cases-184;
Handwriting, orthography and grammar-186;
The pressure of time-190;
Self-contradiction-190;
Further reading-191;
11. MOOTS, MOCK TRIALS AND OTHER COMPETITIONS-193;
Moots-193;
Other competitions-201;
Speaking in public-201;
Mock trials-203;
Further reading-205;
12. LEGAL RESEARCH-207;
The Electronic sources-208;
Ascertaining the state of the law-209;
Treatises and other legal works-210;
Electronic sources-210;
Electronic research-210;
Statutes-211;
Decided cases and cases judicially considered-212;
Statutory instruments-213;
Academic research-214;
Dissertations-215;
Amount of supervision and contact with supervisor-215;
Size of the dissertation-215;
Finding a topic-215;
Finding materials-216;
The writing process-216;
Timetable-217;
Plagiarism-217;
Periodical literature-217;
Government publications-218;
Command papers-218;
European Union law-219;
Commonwealth law-219;
New Zealand-219;
American material-219;
Libraries-220;
Grammar and style-220;

13. FROM LEARNING TO EARNING-221;
Practice at the Bar-223;
Finding a pupillage-231;
Pro bono work-234;
Forms of address-234;
Taking silk-235;
Further reading-236;
The bar as a stepping stone-237;
Solicitors-239;
Further reading-246;
Government Legal Service-246;
Local government-247;
Crown Prosecution Service-248;
Civil service: general category-249;
Business management-250;
Teaching-251;
Accountancy-254;
Legal publishing and court reporting-255;
Applying for jobs-some general advice-255;
14. GENERAL READING-259;
Fiction-259;
Biographies-262
Trials-266;
Essays-267;
Humour-268;
Drama-268;
Film-270;
History-271
The Constitution-271;
Jurisprudence, logic, philosophy and economics-271.