Learning Legal Rules

Aimed at introducing students to the law that deals with legal skills and methods, this book provides a treatment of research skills, precedent and statutory interpretation. It contains guidance on interpreting statutes; an introductory chapter; diagrams; and a layout and text design. It is accompanied by an Online Resource Centre.

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Among the many new skills law students have to acquire, using legal method and solving legal problems are possibly the most important. Yet all too often these legal skills are ignored, and it is assumed that students will acquire them as they progress through their course. "Learning Legal Rules" brings together the theory, structure, and practice of legal reasoning in a readily accessible style. The book explains how to find and make use of legal materials and offers an overview of the techniques of legal analysis and argument, and the operation of precedent and statutory interpretation. The authors also examine the permeating influence of EC law and the legal method employed by other European legal systems. The fifth edition has been extensively rewritten and reorganized to ensure that it continues to fit the needs of today's law students. It contains more guidance on interpreting statutes, an extended introductory chapter 1 on "What is Law?", and new material on the Human Rights Act.
It has also been given a new clear text design and layout that incorporates new chapter headings and paragraph headings; summaries of the key points of each chapter; boxed questions at the end of each chapter; more diagrams, especially in the chapters on reasoning, to aid visual learners; and a main table of contents. It also contains a new Online Resource Centre containing key questions and guidance on how to answer them, diagrams, useful legal abbreviations and annotated web links.