Law Coursework (UK)
Part A should be 3 pages of case analysis and Part B should be 7 pages of Legal Research. In the second Part, 2 of the references needed to be from Seminars which is uploaded as a file.
PART A: Case Analysis (worth 30% of the overall mark) Page limit: 3 pages, including footnotes but excluding bibliography
PART A – Case Analysis 3 pages (including footnotes in Oscola style excluding bibliography)
Read Whittington Hospital NHS Trust v XX [2020] UKSC 14, and answer the following questions.
1. How did the Court reach its decision in the case? (45%) 1.b. What is the ratio decidendi of the case? (5%)
2. Do you find the Court’s decision to be convincing? Which decision do you prefer (Lady Hale or Lord Carnwarth Give reasons for your answer. (50%)
PART B -Legal Research (including footnotes in Oscola style excluding bibliography)
PART B: Research Essay (worth 70% of the overall mark) Page limit: Seven (7) pages, including footnotes but excluding bibliography
Discuss by reference to TWO seminar readings:
“A law, which actually exists, is a law, though we happen to dislike it, or though it vary from the text, by which we regulate our approbation and disapprobation.” (John Austin)
Page limit: Seven (7) pages, including footnotes but excluding bibliography. The structure of the paper is crucial (Introduction covers the aim (purpose) of the paper, what Austin aimed to say with his words, what does the paper support? What is it going to explain, discuss? The main body needs sub-titles and it should be related to those 2 seminar readings which will be decided by the writer), the conclusion should be 8-9 sentences, including what the paper has covered in 7 pages.
The paper should discuss Austin’s words by referencing to 2 seminar readings and it also needs to talk about Austin’s critique’s views such as Hart.
Part A and B must have separate bibliographies. Part B should have sub-titles related those 2 seminar readings and Lecture heading found in Lecture handout. Up to 5% can be lost for incomplete, inconsistent or poor citation.
The Research essay.
The aim is to provide you with some useful tips and suggestions about approaching and writing the Research Essay. You are also directed towards Understanding Law’s Research Essay Checklist.
Presentation of Essay: A short guide instruction
Students are often uncertain about the way in which written work is to be presented. The presentation of written work is very important, but it is rare to find students who are entirely sure about how to present their work. This is unfortunate, as good ideas can easily be marred by the lack of consideration given to how the essay is structured and phrased. However, significant improvements can be made to a piece of work, by little more than developing good habits. These are not difficult to pick up, and if some simple pointers are followed, then the impact of your work can be maximised. What follows is intended as a brief run through of the main ways in which written work can be improved with minimal effort.
Stylistic Matters
Writing Style: There is no one perfect style for a piece of legal writing. As you will already have ascertained, different authors can have very different, yet very effective writing styles. When choosing your own style, it is good to remember the purpose of the piece of work: – It is to communicate your understanding of the issues involved in the question that you are responding to, and your ideas about that question. In order to achieve this, a simple, clear style of writing is probably the easiest to develop. There should not be any use of the word ‘I’.
Headings: Don’t be afraid to use headings if you feel that they are appropriate to your essay plan. The use of headings and sub-headings can often be a very easy way to improve a piece of written work. They help break up the work from a block of writing into manageable pieces. The main reason for their use though, is that they will help impose a structure on the essay.
Academic Matters
Structure: A logical structure for your essay is crucial. An essay that meanders is likely to say less, and be more likely to exceed the page limits than one with a clear structure. Remember that an essay is not an attempt to write down everything that you know about a subject – it is the answer to a question. As already mentioned, one good way of devising a structure is to look at what sections (and headings) you should have. The process of coming up with what sections should be included and how they might fit together, is in itself a considerable step towards developing a coherent structure for the essay. It should help you to decide what is, and what is not relevant to the question, and how important each part is. A well-structured essay is well on the way to being a good essay.
Originality: It is always a good idea to try to show that you have thought about the question yourself, rather than simply skimming your lecture and seminar notes and any required reading. Evidence of independent thought will almost always improve the marks given for an essay.
Plagiarism: Don’t do it. Make sure that you properly attribute every quote that you use, as well as any other person’s ideas that you adopt.