LAW118 Understanding Law Learning Diary

WEEK 2:
TASK 1:
In the workbook this week you completed four research exercises:
Exercise 1: Identify which are primary and secondary
sources on the Contract Reading List?
The primary sources on the contract reading list are courts decisions
and contracts wills and other legal documents. The cases brought by
decisions of the courts and the specific point of laws which are
established through it.
The secondary sources on the contract reading list are the books
about law and articles about law. E.g; Mckendrick Textbook.
Exercise 2: Finding the primary sources identified in Exercise 1 in
Western Bank Library. The statute books which are available at the
library which are mainly legislation and books on case law.
Exercise 3: Finding the secondary sources identified in Exercise 1 in
the IC. It was easily accessible, books on law.
Exercise 4: Finding primary sources identified in Exercise 1 using
an online database. Western law is a very convenient source to find
case law and provides the full judgements of the case.
You should now write a paragraph (300 words maximum) reflecting
on your research experiences. Your reflection should include the
following:
An example of a successful research strategy you used this week
An example of a failed research strategy you used this week
A discussion of any aspects of the research which you found
particularly difficult
Identification of any research methods/skills which you are going
to need to work on/practice in the coming weeks.
I read my text book on case law and understood the development of
the law. It provided me with greater insight into the reasoning of the
judges in making their decisions and how it was justified. This
improved my understanding and furthermore, I developed a sense

of interest in reading the judgements which would be essential in

my time studying law.
I tried searching for case law summaries to help expedite my
studying time and give me a simple understanding of certain cases,
however it proved futile in a sense I did not get the whole gist of the
case and just provided short and insufficient information and it
added to my confusion on certain point of laws.
I found that reading through full case judgements tends to be very
lengthy and caused me to lose interest and also develop a sense of
perplexity which made me very confused. However persevering
through it had benefited me in a sense to understand the specific
ratio decidendi and obiter dicta of the judges. This developed my
skill in understanding what is actually binding and what is of just
mere opinion. The rationale of the judges in determining cases
where they take sides and provide assenting and dissenting
arguments to reach a verdict of utmost justification.
I would need to be able to start reading more case laws and reading
the text books and trying to find online sources and journals to
further enhanced my knowledge of the law so that I could establish
good arguments in my essays to come.
NB: You must bring this AND your answers to all four exercises to
your Colloquium next week (Week 3).