Notes for cases

[vashappenin]

Hi all!
Just wondering, is it ok to use someone else's notes and rely on them to save time rather than make my own notes for cases? I mean, there's just so many cases in Contract Law and one of the lecturers has put up really detailed notes (2014) so I'm contemplating using them. Would it be a bad idea to do so or would I be better off making my own notes?

[ek123]

Which lecturer has put up detailed notes?

[Rohmer]

You can use other notes (a good set of exam notes can be very useful in law) to help with your own write-ups and understanding of the cases, but I'd generally advise against not making your own notes in Contract. That's basically because Contract is closed book, and you have to rely on memory a bit more than most other law units which are open book.

You want to make sure you know all the cases well in terms of facts, arguments, decisions and principles (emphasis on the last one) so you can quickly and accurately apply them to the exam hypotheticals. I find that making your own notes helps you to remember the cases better, as when you go through the cases/textbook/lecture materials and put it together in your own words I think you remember it more effectively (as opposed to reading over a set of ready-made notes). That's just what works for me though, some people may find reading over other people's notes quite effective.

[platypus]

I found with Contracts making the notes myself actually helped with remembering the cases, so that was why I made them. While you do need to "know" every single case on the Reading Guide, you only need to be very familiar with the main ones in terms of the facts, principles, decision, reasons for decisions etc. Unless they're doing what they did with us in Contract B last year and (picking a random case and asking us to write 30% of the exam on it),  then you don't really need an in depth understanding of all the cases.

[vashappenin]

Thanks
For most of the cases I've gone through, I've only noted down the facts, issue/s and decisions. What exactly do you mean by principles? Also, I'm really struggling to find the ratio decidendi/obiter - are these necessary or not? Because pretty much all the lecture notes I've looked at only talk about the facts, issues and judgement/decisions but that's about it..

[vashappenin]

Bump?

[Rohmer]

The principle IS the ratio - the reason for the decision, e.g. the principle in Foakes v Beer [1884] is that part payment of a debt does not constitute good consideration due to the existing legal duty rule. Or in Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd, 'the display of a product in a store with a price attached is not sufficient to be considered an offer, but rather is an invitation to treat' etc.