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Has anyone else had concern that their choice of textbook doesnt really cover the case law adequately?
My normal study technique is to make detailed notes for each chapter covering all matters in the same order as the book does but in my own words. I am making separate notes on the case law and what it actually tells us and my textbook seems incomplete or badly set out
For example,
-Dick Bentley vs Harold Smith is described as Dick Bentley vs Arnold Smith.-Schuler v Wickman is described as Schuler v Wickham, throughout
-Thomson v LMS Railway doesnt explain that the claimant was injured in a railway related accident (which is quite relevant to why the case arose).
-Les Affreteurs Reunis vs Leopold Walford neither explains the relationship between the three parties to the case, the rather important trust issues that had to be resolved before the case could be brought, or indeed the relationship between the parties to the case and why it was important that the express term of the charter conflicted with the implied term of tradition
Maybe we’re only meant to learn what the law is rather than why – but I feel without the full context of the caselaw, it doesnt really help and might as well be omitted in many cases.
Maybe we dont need the details as students; we might need them one day, as accountants….
Interested to hear your views
Chris (UK)Hi Chris
What IS important is the principle of the case rather than the precise “facts” If you listen to my lectures I tell the story embellished with extra “details” which hopefully make the story more memorable so the principle is also remembered.
Don’t get bogged down in miniutia – learn the principles.
When quoting a case name to illustrate a principle, there really isn’t a need to have precision in the case name – it’s a law exam for accountants, not a law exam for lawyers.
In the cases you have mentioned it would be sufficient to quote, for example, Bentley v Smith – we really don’t care whether he was Harold or Arnold nor even John! It would be sufficient to refer to “the Bentley case” or even “in a decided case”
And if you really want precision, the “les Affreteurs” case should be “Les Affreteurs Reunnis Societe D’Armaments Maritime Societe Anonyme v Walford” with some acute accents which I’m not prepared to search out on my keyboard!
For a natural English speaker, many names in cases are familiar to us – I KNOW there’s a bird called Partridge and I once met an American called Crittenden so name recall is not particularly an issue for me.
But put yourself in a position where the case could be, say, Martinkevicius v Alexandraviciute. Both of these are names of former students of mine in courses in a former soviet country. You try remembering those! Well, that’s the same problem as my students trying to remember English family names.
In short, learn the principles. If you can, quote the case which illustrates the point. If you can’t do that, quote just one of the names of the two parties
And enjoy the law! It’s FUN 🙂
In short, learn the principles
Sorry!! That’s me trying to be clever! The case with the stupidly long name is not Les Affreteurs! The case I confused with Affreteurs was the Suisse case or Suisse Atlantique Societe D’Armaments Maritime Societe Anonyme v MV Rotterdamsche Kohlencentrale
Sorry for the confusion
Thanks – I will certainly view your lectures as well (currently making notes off the book, reached ch6 of 23 in total)
I will concentrate on the principles although the exercise I was doing yesterday – taking a list of all the cases referenced under contract law and looking them up in law sites – proved very useful as it gave alternative explanations of the same facts, which throws a much clearer light on not only the facts of the case (still learning to interpret legal terms) but also the context
I had not realised you’d conflated two cases there! By the time I got to the Les Affreteurs case my mind was a bit cooked from too much lawyer-waffle
the information in the textbook is more than enough. I showed a few solicitor friends the content and they actually thought there was too much information.
Researching the cases on the internet is a waste imho
Essem – I’m sorry you feel that more learning is a bad or wasteful thing. I disagree. Knowledge is power, even if it won’t specifically help me pass the exam.
I’m only a quarter of the way through the syllabus and I already feel better-informed when I read the news and new legal cases are mentioned, just for knowing what the terms mean – things like repudiation, injunction, terms, conditions and warranties have meaning now when before they were just lawyer-waffle
Absolutely right! And it’s amazing how often your ordinary everyday life is related to the law which you are learning! (I don’t mean by that that you have an ordinary, everyday life!)
I’m an accountant. I have a very ordinary everyday life. I drive a volvo, read the guardian and drink tea. 😉
with a tat like that on your left cheek, you’re hardly “everyman’s” image of an ordinary accountant
haha! Its face-paint actually, I was at a pretty wild party (hence the hat as well – I dont wear a fedora for professional purposes)
I have nearly finished compiling my revision list of all the relevant UK case-law for The Law of Obligations (Contract law & Torts)
Unless the management of this board have any objection, I will post it here as a link for other F4 UK students to be able to access. I believe nothing in my compiled document breaches any copyright restrictions, being based on court reports and commentary upon them in relevant online sources but phrased in my own words and in no place using the text of commercial publications
the order in which the cases are addressed matches the order of mention in a well known commercial textbook but the data is derived and checked from elsewhere. It may contain errors either of my phrasing or from the sources used and I will accept no liability for any such….
Hi,
You can upload your notes to :
https://opentuition.com/community/groups/f4-corporate-and-business-law/documents/
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