Identify the legal issues
- The next step is to identify the legal issues in the problem scenario. Look at the weekly topics you have covered to work out the broad area of law that is relevant to the case e.g. in contract law it could be ‘offer and acceptance’, for criminal law it could be non-fatal offences. Then, narrow it down to the specific issue, such as whether the contract was validly accepted, or whether a person committed a specific offence under the Crimes Act. It may be useful to also consult a textbook or legal commentary service to read some background about the issues involved.
- Then state the issue succinctly. Your answer should be specific, rather than too general. An issue may be broken down into multiple sub-issues and relevant legal rules applied to each sub-issue. Do not include individual headings that say ‘issue’ for each issue. Your answers need to be written in full paragraphs that incorporate a statement of the issue and then apply relevant legal principles in a coherent, reasoned analysis.
For example, “The company may be liable in tort for the harm that has occurred to the plaintiff” or "The main issue is whether the NSW Police can arrest people solely for the purpose of questioning them" both include enough detail for you to then find specific legal principles to apply to the issue. Conversely, simply stating “Will the plaintiff win?” is too general.
The issue may mention party names and specific facts of the case. Be specific about the issue/s for each of the parties.
TipRemember: stating the factual problem i.e. ‘X purchased a mechanical toy that caught on fire and damaged their house’ is not the legal issue. The legal issue could be, for example, whether X the person can make a claim under consumer law and receive compensation for the damage. |
Example
Samina and Jayne meet up at the beach on 4th February. Samina has borrowed a surfboard from a local shop as she doesn’t have her own. Samina admires Jayne’s surfboard and mentions she would like to buy one. Jayne offers to sell the surfboard to her for $1,500. Samina responds that she’s interested, but would need delivery included in the price as she doesn’t have her own transport. They start surfing and nothing more is said about it. The next week, on 11th February, they meet again to surf and Samina asks when Jayne will deliver the surfboard. Jayne responds that she assumed Samina rejected her offer, so she sold it to someone else the day before.
Identify the issues
One legal issue here is whether Samina’s reply stating that she would need delivery included in the price of the surfboard was a counter-offer or a request for further information.
Tips
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