Legal Research & Reasoning

Curriculum guideline

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Course
LGST 1110
Discontinued
No
Course code
LGST 1110
Descriptive
Legal Research & Reasoning
Department
Legal Studies
Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Credits
3.00
Start date
Not Specified
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
Yes
Semester length
15
Max class size
35
Contact hours
Lecture: 4 hrs. per week / semester
Learning activities

The course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following:

 

  • lectures
  • labs
  • small group discussion
  • audio-visual materials
  • research projects and writing assignments
Course description
This course is designed to give students an understanding of the purposes and processes of legal research and reasoning. Students will be introduced to legal research skills and techniques in traditional and electronic methodologies and to practical applications of those skills. The course will discuss the elements of legal analysis and reasoning in common law systems. Through a case review approach, students will explore various areas of substantive law to develop an understanding of legal reasoning and the concepts of critical and ethical thinking.
Course content
  1. Introduction and Overview
    • Views about fundamental philosophical questions about the law
    • Purpose of legal research and reasoning
    • Rationale for developing legal research skills
    • Rationale for understanding the requirement that judges conform to prescribed modes of reasoning.
  2. Sources of Law
    • Primary sources
    • bills, statutes, regulations, by-laws
    • judicial decisions
    • structure of Canada’s court system and hierarchy
    • the doctrines of precedent and stare decisis
    • briefing cases
    • Secondary sources and their use in legal research
    • texts, journals, encyclopaedias, digests
    • electronic sources
  3. Legal Research
    • Electronic and print methods of finding and updating statutory materials
    • Citation of statutory materials
    • Electronic and print methods of finding and updating reported and unreported case law
    • Citation of statutory materials.
  4. Legal Reasoning in the Common Law System
    • The Civil Law and Common Law systems—how and where they are used in Canada
    • The theory behind each system
    • The judicial mandate to apply the law
    • The complexity and constraints on judicial reasoning
    • Structure and rules that govern judicial reasoning (statutory interpretation) (precedent and stare decisis)
    • Judicial flexibility and distinguishing
    • Professional responsibility
  5. Methods of Reasoning
    • Inductive and deductive reasoning
    • Arguing from principle
    • Reasoning from prior cases
    • The concepts of clarity, detail, precision and abstraction
    • Concealed issues
    • Critical and ethical thinking
    • ethics vs. legal thinking
    • points of view
    • interpretation and influence
    • assumptions
    • consequences
Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:

  1. Explain the importance of legal research skills.
  2. Explain the rationale behind the requirement that judges conform to methods of legal reasoning.
  3. Identify primary sources of law and explain their use in the context of the Canadian legislative and judicial system.
  4. Identify and use secondary sources of law in legal research.
  5. Use electronic and print methods of finding and updating statutory and case law materials.
  6. Write proper citations for all legal materials.
  7. Compare and contrast main elements of Civil and Common Law systems used in Canada.
  8. Explain the theory underlying the Civil and Common Law systems.
  9. Explain the judicial mandate to apply the law and constraint thereon.
  10. Explain the structures and rules governing judicial reasoning, including rules of statutory interpretation, the operation of precedent and stare decisis, judicial flexibility and distinguishing.
  11. Identify and explain different forms of reasoning, including inductive and deductive reasoning, arguing from principle and reasoning from prior cases.
  12. Describe the importance of the concepts of clarity, detail, precision, abstraction and concealed issues in reasoning.
  13. Describe the importance of critical and ethical thinking to legal reasoning.
  14. Research, write and analyze judicial reasoning in case studies.
Means of assessment

Evaluation will be based on the course objectives and carried out in accordance with Douglas College policy.   The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria at the beginning of the course.  Evaluation will be based on the following:

  • Exams
  • Labs
  • Assignments in legal research and writing

 

 An example of one possible evaluation scheme would be:

      

Labs  20%
Midterm exam  25%
Research writing assignment I  25%
Research writing assignment II          30%
Total 100%
Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:

 

One or more textbooks, such as the following:

Case, Roland. (1997). Understanding Judicial Reasoning, Controversies, Concepts and Cases. Toronto:    Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.

 

Fitzgerald, Maureen. (2004). Legal Problem Solving:  Reasoning, Research and Writing (3rd ed.). Toronto:                 Butterworths.

 

Kwaw, E.M.A.  (1992). The Guide to Legal Analysis, Legal Methodology and Legal Writing. Toronto:         Emond Montgomery.

 

Tjaden, Ted. (2001). Legal Research and Writing. Toronto:  Irwin Law.

Yogis, John A. & Christie, Innis M. (2004). Legal Research and Writing Manual (6h ed.). Toronto:                 Butterworths.