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Introduction to English Law & Legal Method — Durham University notes | caselaw

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Notes/Durham University/Introduction to English Law & Legal Method

Introduction to English Law & Legal Method

Introduction to English Law & Legal Method on the Durham University LLB Law (Year 1). The foundational legal-method skills the rest of the degree is built on — finding the law, reading cases, interpreting statutes and writing like a lawyer.

Sources of English law

English law begins with sources: authority, hierarchy, interpretation, and disciplined legal method.

The court system and precedent

Precedent is the working discipline by which institutional authority becomes legal argument.

Statutory interpretation

How courts turn enacted words into legal obligations while respecting parliamentary authority.

Legal reasoning and analogy

Analogy is the disciplined movement from decided authority to justified legal conclusion.

Reading and briefing cases

Cases become usable law only when read for issue, reason, authority and consequence.

Law and morality

Legal method requires distinguishing moral argument from legal authority without denying their interaction.

Equity and the common law

Equity is not sentiment, but a disciplined jurisdiction modifying common-law rights through conscience.

Legal method — writing case notes and essays

Case notes and essays turn reading into disciplined legal argument.

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