Why Study Law?
Studying law has an obvious appeal to anyone considering a career in the legal profession. A Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree provides a firm foundation for students wishing to train as solicitors or barristers. However, it is important for prospective students to realise that there are a whole range of careers outside of private legal practice as a solicitor or barrister. Such careers include acting as Crown or State Prosecutor, working in the courts service, national and local government law departments and specialist niche areas of law (land registry, competition law or taxation).
More importantly, a law degree is one of the most well-respected undergraduate qualifications. It opens up a vista of career opportunities quite apart from the practice of law. This is because the study of law improves powers of reasoning, clarity of thought and the ability to analyse and express complicated ideas. Such skills are in demand in a wide variety of areas including commerce and industry, social services, politics, the media and the upper echelons of the public services.
The wide career opportunities open to law graduates is evidenced by the fact that only about half the students who study law at British universities choose careers as practising lawyers. A legal education opens more doors than just the practice of law.
Difference Between Soft Law and Hard Law
If you are studying international law, there is a little notion called “soft law” that can sometimes be confusing to understand. Here is how to tell the difference between soft law and hard law in the context of the international legal system.
Brehon Laws
The Brehon Laws were statutes that governed everyday life and politics in Ireland until the Norman invasion of 1171 (the word “Brehon” is an Anglicization of ”breitheamh” (earlier ”brithem”), the Irish word for a judge). The laws were written in the Old Irish period (ca. 600 - 900 AD) and probably reflect the traditional laws of pre-Christian Ireland. These secular laws existed in parallel with, and sometimes in conflict with, Canon law throughout the early Christian period.
The laws were a Civil Law rather than a Criminal Law code, concerned with the payment of compensation for harm done and the regulation of property, inheritance and contracts: the concept of state-administered punishment for crime was foreign to Ireland’s early lawmakers. They show Ireland in the early medieval period to have been a hierarchical society, taking great care to define social status, and the rights and duties that went with it, according to property, and the relationships between lords and their clients and serfs.
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Civil Procedure
Civil procedure is the written set of rules that sets out the process that courts will follow when hearing cases of a civil nature (a “civil action”). These rules explain how a lawsuit must be commenced, what kind of service of process is required, the types of pleadings, motions, and court orders allowed in civil cases, the timing and manner of depositions and discovery, the conduct of trials, the process for judgment, various available remedies, and how the courts and clerks must function.
Filing a Civil Lawsuit for Sexual Harassment
by Mart Gil Abareta
At present, there are lots of sexual harassment victims who never come forward and report this crime. Many states have special rules for lawsuits brought by adults who suffered sexual abuse as a child. Sometimes, state laws extend the time period during which an adult can bring such a lawsuit. This is popularly known as statute of limitations. It is often difficult to win such cases, as any evidence of the incident/s and damages has faded during the time the child is growing up.
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What is Criminal Law?
Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of law that punishes criminals for committing offences against the state. The goal of this process is that of achieving criminal justice.
According to criminal law, crimes are offenses against the social order. In common law jurisdictions, there is a legal fiction that crimes disturb the peace of the sovereign. Government officials, as agents of the sovereign, are responsible for the prosecution of offenders. Hence, the criminal law “plaintiff” is the sovereign, which in practical terms translates into the monarch or the people.
