Legal Method [Paperback]

The Palgrave Macmillan Law Masters series is a long-running and successful list of titles offering clear, concise and authoritative guides to the main subject areas, written by experienced and respected authors.

This ninth edition of Legal Method provides a lively introduction to the nature of the English legal system and its sources, and to the techniques which lawyers use when handling those sources. The text assumes no prior knowledge and makes its content accessible by clarity of expression rather than by dilution of content. In addition to more conventional sources, writers as varied as Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and T. S. Eliot are cited.

This is an ideal course companion for both law undergraduate and GDL/CPE students. Includes end of chapter summaries and self-test exercises.
Legal Method commonly refers to a set of techniques used to analyse, handle sources and apply the law and to determine the appropriate weight that should be accorded to different sources of law.
 
This text assumes no prior knowledge of the subject matter and makes its content accessible by clarity of expression rather than by dilution of content. In addition to more conventional sources, writers as varied as Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope and T. S. Eliot are cited.PART I: IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS.- 1. An Introduction to Law and Legal Reasoning.- 2. The Classifications of English Law.- 3. The Jurisdictions of the Principal English Courts.- 4. The Constitutional Context of Legal Method.- 5. European Community Law and English Law.- 6. The Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.- 7. Finding, Citing and Using the Sources of Law.- PART II: CASE-LAW AND PRECEDENT.- 8. An Introduction to the Doctrine of Binding Precedent.- 9. Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum.- 10. Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of Precedent.- 11. Does the House of Lords Bind Itself?.- 12. Does the Court of Appeal BlãÜ