#law study

[oatmuststudy]

mock law midterm study pt. 1

Criminal Trials vs. Civil Trials

⤷ Criminal trials deal w/ offenses against the state or fed. government, ending w/ someone going to prison or being set free. (ex: murder, fraud, grand larceny)

⤷ Civil trials deal w/ personal matters between two civilians, and end with someone paying money to the other or the two parties coming to a resolution. (ex: personal injury, contract disputes, family law)

Mock Trial vs. Moot Court

⤷ Moot court = appellate (review of decisions from lower trial courts to check for legal errors) court proceedings

⤷ Mock trial = replication of lower-court cases

Basics

⤷ Mock trial focuses on court proceedings to allow a simulation of actual procedures in real trials. The procedures in MT are condensed and less-time consuming.

⤷ Authenticity, teamwork, and confidence are needed to succeed in MT.

⤷ Upon walking into the courtroom, walk in with a serious face on w/o pleasantries. Only be nice and smile toward witnesses, and be respectful of the judge. Analyze the opposing counsel. Speak and move w/ confidence.

⤷ Use every move and word to control the courtroom in your favor.

⤷ If you need to use big words or legal terms, explain them to the jury.

⤷ Witness Statement: a witness for either counsel is sworn onto the stand (or signs an affidavit). Whatever they say will be identified as a witness statement.

⤷ Stipulation: an agreement between the two counsels before a legal proceeding. A stipulation is often a fact in the case that everyone knows and has agreed to accept before the case begins.

⤷ Objection: a formal protest made by a counsel during court (objections are not permitted during opening and closing statements).

⤷ Deposition: an out-of-court witness testimony recorded by a certified court reporter/videographer. This is normally used in litigation in the US in both civil and criminal cases.

⤷ Burden of Proof: a legal standard that determines if a legal claim is valid/invalid based on the evidence produced. This is held by the prosecution. The BOP is the obligation to prove one's assertion through sufficient evidence to meet the required legal standard of proof.

Objections

⤷ Relevance: based on the argument that the evidence/testimony is not relevant to the case.

⤷ Hearsay: an objection to evidence that relies on secondhand information rather than firsthand knowledge. Exceptions to this rule are utterances and party admissions.

⤷ Leading Question: raised when an attorney asks a question that suggests the desired answer or puts words in the witness's mouth. (These are allowed on cross examination, not direct examination).

Counsels

⤷ Plaintiff: the person filing the initial complaint/lawsuit in a civil case.

⤷ Prosecution: the one charging the defendant with a crime/felony. In court, the prosecution sits/stands on the side nearest the jury.

⤷ Note: a prosecutor is the attorney responsible for presenting the case in court and bringing criminal charges to the defendant.

⤷ Defendant: the person being sued/charged.

Procedure Basics (and Order)

⤷ Preliminary Matters: introduce your team and ask the judge their preferences; used to get everyone on the same page.

⤷ Opening Statement (5 minutes): tell the story of the case and introduce your theme for the remainder of the trial. This should include the introduction of your witnesses and what they are to speak about.

⤷ Prosecution's witnesses (includes direct and cross examination)

⤷ Defense's witnesses (includes direct and cross examination)

⤷ Closing Statement (10 minutes): summarize what has been said and proven in the trial to persuade the jury to rule in your favor.

[sofiaflorina2021]

It's been a long time since I studied law, now I'm studying law again and it's fun, especially since I'm drafting my constitution.

[hightricker]

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[directdegree]

Backdated Degree Certificate for Law

[nor-the-worlds-law]

Law Wider Reading

I think that wider reading can really help students to understand what it would be like to study their desired subject. That’s why I will be compiling a list of law related books and summarising/giving my opinions on them in separate links. 

Books I’ve read:

Books I need to read:

Eve Was Shamed - Helena Kennedy

The Rule of Law - Tom Bingham

What About Law - Graham Virgo, Janet O'Sullivan, Catherine Barnard

Letters to a Law Student - Nicholas McBride

Is Eating People Wrong? - Allan Hutchinson

About Law: An Introduction - Tony Honoré

Legal Method - Ian McLeod

The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study - Karl N. Llewellyn

Using a Law Library: A Student’s Guide to Legal Research Skills - Peter Clinch

[nor-the-worlds-law]

The Law Surrounding Family Youtubers

As it stands there have been many cases of abuse surrounding family channels on Youtube - overly harsh punishments for the sake of shock value, continuing to records meltdowns even as the child expresses their dislike of being filmed and even ‘rehoming’ their adopted children after they weren’t displaying behaviour that the parents viewed as being ‘camera-friendly. However, this post focuses solely on the laws and regulations surrounding child influencers. 

Child Labour Laws

When it comes to kid influencers (also known as ‘kidfluencers’) who make money reviewing toys or being cute on camera, I think that the same laws that protect child actors should apply. Child actors must have work permits, and there are strict regulations limiting their working hours, requiring ‘rest and recreation’ time while they are on set, and ensuring that their work does not interfere with their education. However, in the UK, no laws outline protections for minors earning income on social media. This is concerning as, without any protection, the child could potentially lose millions to their own parents.

Furthermore, YouTube is a user-generated content platform, meaning that even if there were regulations put in place to protect the children, there’s such a large amount of content available that it would be is virtually impossible to oversee the working conditions of those involved, especially for the channels that are smaller and less well-known. 

Privacy and Consent

Even if there were legal protections put in place to ensure that the child is getting paid, being in a vlog is very different from acting. While a child actor is playing a role separate from themselves, children that appear in family vlog channels are not performing - they are living their daily life, with their very real thoughts and emotions. Moreover, there is also no shortage of potentially humiliating moments being shared; temper tantrums, first crushes, exam results and reactions to pranks - all for the purpose of views, likes, and, ultimately, more money.

There is no way of knowing the long term effects that this new industry will have on these children until the first wave of them grows up, but I believe that no two-year-old children verbally agrees to have their crying fits shared on the internet. Teens also do not sign up to be filmed in uncomfortable moments, like when they bring a close friend home for the first time.

There may not be specific laws that regulate the presence of children on social media yet, but the right to privacy is protected by article 16 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. It states that:

1. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.

2. The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

It may be difficult to restrict the invasion of a child’s privacy, but what if the incentives to do it were removed? I don’t think that these parents would keep a camera on their child’s faces all day, every day, if they couldn’t make money off of it. Therefore, a possible solution to this issue would be prohibiting monetisation of videos featuring children. But where would the line be drawn? Would a child’s voice in the background of a livestream warrant complete demonetisation? 

This is one avenue of family law that I think is severely overlooked and so I hope that by sharing information and reintroducing the topic back into the public conscience, change can occur soon. 

[nor-the-worlds-law]

The Benefits of English Literature

Almost all universities require applicants to take an essay subject in order to enrol in a law course, but that was not something I focused on when choosing my A-Level subjects. I believe that in the modern day, English Literature provides students with two indispensable skills:

Critical Thinking

A rise in fan culture online has lead to a lot of teenagers interacting with and analysing media in a very specific way - a way that is different from what people are expected to have in a formal education setting.

Media that attracts a lot of attention online often includes main characters that you’re supposed to like and agree with. The stories are built around rooting for with the protagonists and condemning the antagonists. This black and white worldview is what entertainers believe will suit younger generations.

This kind of thinking can fall apart with other types of media - those with more complex storylines. If someone who has only ever analysed media this way encounters something more nuanced such as 1984, Lolita, and The Great Gatsby (stories that deal with unreliable narrators) or stories such as Catcher in the Rye (which has a narrator reacting to very challenging situations) it can lead to horrible misunderstanding.

Studying literature formally reintroduces the idea that the readers are not always supposed to fully agree with the protagonist and should instead view the piece more critically. 

Comprehension

Often people tasked with literary analysis complain about being asked to explain why an author uses a specific literary device. They believe that they are being asked to memorise the long paragraphs of description (in, for example, Great Expectations) and carry it with them for the rest of their lives. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The process of understanding why an author uses a technique develops your ability to search for meaning within a text and fill in gaps of information yourself. Fake news has recently been a highly discussed topic, and I think that a reason for the widespread inability to discern the truth for oneself is a lack of this ability. 

Everything an author writes has meaning. Whether it was intentional or not, their biases and agendas are reflected in their language. This ties directly with being able to identify, for example, racist or sexist language used in certain news sources. The way we communicate is a reflection of ourselves, whether it’s in a novel, news article, work email or post online. Instead of taking a piece of writing at face value while assuming that there is not any deeper meaning or thought behind the page, ask yourselves these questions:

Who does the author expect to read this?

What are they trying to communicate to them?

What does the author think about their readers?

What do they not realise they’re saying?

In my opinion, the most interesting part of any piece of writing is what’s between the lines. Studying literature in depth allows you to gain these vital comprehension skills. Skills that I believe will aid a student greatly in the study of law cases.