Essays
Law essays
Much of the information concerning essays is still relevant for law essays. However, there are a couple of aspects about law essays that need to be considered in addition to the information given in essays.
Essay structure
The broad structure of law essays remains similar to essays in other subject areas. There will still be an introduction, body and conclusion. The basic structure of paragraphs will also remain unchanged.
However, within that broad generic structure, a well-written law essay will also exhibit the following structural features that some writers refer to as IRAC (Krever 1998, p. 62; Lewis 1997, p. 7).
- Issue Identification - identify or recognise the legal issue(s) that might be raised by the facts specified in an essay topic or question
- Rule - identify the rule(s) that is (are) directly relevant to the issue(s) in terms of helping you resolve the legal problem
- Application - apply the appropriate rule(s) to the facts of the case to explain how they (ie the facts) should best be interpreted to resolve the issue(s)
- Conclusion - your view of whether (1) the facts satisfy the legal rule and (2) the likely outcome if the legal rule is applied in the manner argued for in your essay.
Citation conventions
The citation conventions for books will usually not differ from the standard conventions for footnotes or endnotes.
However, the citation technique for journal articles in footnotes is slightly different.
Articles
Reference to an article as a whole
- C Bacchi and J Jose, 'Dealing with Sexual Harassment: Persuade, Discipline, or Punish?' (1994) 10 Australian Journal of Law & Society 1-13.
Reference to a specific page in an article
- C Bacchi and J Jose, 'Dealing with Sexual Harassment: Persuade, Discipline, or Punish?' (1994) 10 Australian Journal of Law & Society 9, 1-13.
Legal cases
Note that the title of the case is italicised. Commas are not used to separate the various parts of the citation. Nor are 'p' and 'pp' used to indicate page numbers.
- Hall and Others v A & A Sheiban Pty. Ltd. And Others (1990) 20 FCR 217.
- McCleskey v Kemp (1987) 107 Supreme Court 1756.
- Berry v The Queen [1992] 3 WLR 153 (PC).
The square brackets indicate that the date is a crucial means of identifying the case. The abbreviation 'PC' indicates that the case came before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Legislation
- Statutes: In footnotes or endnotes and in your text these are usually cited by their short title (italicised)
Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).
When the title of the same act is referred to on subsequent occasions within the body of your text, then the title is not italicised (e.g. the Crimes Act).
The titles of regulations, other forms of delegated legislation, and bills are not italicised.
Citing official titles in your text
When referring to official judgements, the names of the judges are cited by their surname followed by the abbreviation of their official title.
For example:
- Dixon CJ (this reads Dixon, Chief Justice which means that you are referring to Chief Justice Dixon)
- Toohey J (this reads Toohey, Justice which means that you are referring to Justice Toohey).
For two or more judges the title is duplicated. For example:
- Toohey and Gaudron JJ.
All citations should use the title that was applicable when the judgement was handed down - even if the person making that judgement subsequently was elevated to a higher judicial level.
If a judge has written a book or a paper then their name should be cited in the ordinary fashion, not by their judicial title. For example:
- Sir Garfield Barwick, Sir John Did His Duty (not Barwick CJ, Sir John Did His Duty).