Unit 1 of Legal Writing and Legal Language (syllabus: Module I — law, rules, regulation and policy; custom, treaty, legislation and precedent; the characteristics of legal language; case analysis and case briefs; statutory analysis through the Information Technology Act 2000). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- What is the difference between a rule, a regulation and a policy?
- What must a party prove before a court will enforce a custom?
- How does a treaty, which binds States, come to be used by an Indian court?
- Why does a precedent bind, and which part of a judgment is it that binds?
- What are the characteristics of legal language, and does law have a language of its own?
- Why does the drafter's pursuit of certainty produce obscurity, and what should a legal writer do about it?
- What are the elements of a case brief, and in what order should you build one?
- How do you analyse a section of a statute, and what did that analysis show about the offence of sending offensive messages?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- General Clauses Act 1897, s. ss. 3(50) and 3(51)
- Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, s. s. 2(1)(d)
- Constitution of India, s. Article 141
- Information Technology Act 2000, s. s. 66A (struck down in 2015)