PREPARATION FOR
EXAMS
LEGAL INSTITUTIONS: SEPTEMBER 2015
ASSIGNMENT REVIEW
ASSIGNMENT ONE
Question One
Locate the Swimming Pools Act NSW (1992) and then:
Identify the section which you would refer to for
information about legal requirements of outdoor swimming
pools in the backyard of a house in Sydney
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/spa19921
92/s7.html
Would your answer be different for a swimming pool in the
backyard of a house in Gosford? In Melbourne?
List the elements of the first sub-section in the section you have identified. (It is not
necessary to provide definitions for these elements.)
• Owner of premises
• Swimming pool
• At all times
• Surrounded
• Child proof barrier
Identify the requirements of a child-resistant barrier.
Separates swimming pool from residential building and any adjoining place
In accordance with prescribed standards
Question Two
Read Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd [1973] QB 233 and answer
the following questions:
• What is the correct citation? [1973] QB 233
(Are there any alternative citations?) Yes: Jarvis v Swans
Tours Ltd [1972] EWCA Civ 8 (16 October 1972); [1972] 3
WLR 954, [1973] 1 All ER 71
• Who is the Appellant? James Walter John Jarvis
• Who is the Respondent? Swans Tours Limited
• At first instance:
• Who was the Plaintiff? James Walter John Jarvis
• Who was the Defendant? Swans Tours Limited
• Who was the Judge? Corley J
• In which court was the case decided? Supreme Court of
Judicature, Court of Appeal
• When was the case heard and when was it decided? 16th
October 1972 Was judgement reserved? No What is your
reason for this answer? No evidence from case e.g. cur
ad vult
• Who were the judges in the case? Lord Denning MR,
Edmund Davies and Stephenson LJJ
• Who represented each party in the case – solicitors and
barristers? Mr. S.N. Parrish, instructed by Messrs. Maples
Teesdale & Co., appeared for the Appellant(Plaintiff).
Mr. P. Thompson, instructed by Messrs. Paisner & Co.,
appeared for the Respondents (Defendants).
• What are the relevant facts? (What facts will it be necessary to
consider when framing or using the ratio from this case?) As
short as possible. Should indicate there was a contract
between Mr Jarvis and Swans Tours, the purpose of which was
a holiday, and many features of the promised holiday were not
fulfilled.
• What are the issues of law? Per Lord Denning: “What is the
amount of damages? ... What is the right way of assessing
damages? It has often been said that on a breach of contract
damages cannot be given for mental distress,” OR are
damages available for breach of contract for mental distress or
disappointment?
• Are there any issues of fact? If not, why not? No – any issues
of fact would have been settled at first instance
• What is the ratio decidendi?. Should really be paraphrasing
rather than quoting. Per Lord Denning: In a proper case
damages for mental distress can be recovered in contract, ….
One such case is a contract for a holiday, or any other contract
to provide entertainment and enjoyment. If the contracting party
breaks his contract, damages can be given for the
disappointment, the distress, the upset and frustration caused
by the breach. Better statement would be paraphrase such
as: Damages for disappointment or mental distress are
available if the object of the contract is for enjoyment or
entertainment.
• What are the obiter dicta (if any)? Perhaps Denning’s
comments about being able to rely on the barristers’ notes of
the lower court decision.
• What cases were distinguished? Hamblin v. G.W.R. 1 H. &
N. Hobbs v. London & South Western Railway(1875) Law
Reports 10 Queen's Bench
• Was the decision in Griffiths v Evans followed? Why?
Why not? Not followed, because the reference is to a
dissenting judgement, not the majority
• Explain the Glyndebourne example referred to by Lord
Denning.
• What was the decision? Appeal allowed (Damages of
£125 for the Appellant)
Question Three
R V Shepherd (1988) 16 NSWLR 1
1. What was the date of the judgment?
15th June 1988
2. Who was the dissenting judge in this case? Lee J
Ellis v Fulham Borough Council [1938] 1 KB 212
1.In this case a little boy was injured in a paddling pool in a public park. How was he
injured? The little boy, who paddled in the pool, had his foot cut with a piece
of glass embedded in sand in the area around the pool.
2. Did the court find in favour of Ellis or Fulham Borough Council? Ellis
Bunning v Centacare [2015] FCCA 280
1.Which phrase defined in section 4 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) is
subject to detailed scrutiny in this judgment? Sexual orientation
2.What is defined at paragraph 41 of this judgment? Polyamory
Question Four
Jasmine and Bob took their twins Meryl and Beryl for a day of adventure
and fun at Tomorroworld. This was a futuristic fun park where everything –
including ticketing – was run by robots. The sign at the entrance to
Tomorroworld indicated that two ticket types were available – full and
restricted. Restricted tickets were designed for younger children who may
not be permitted access on all rides, but a full ticket allowed the holder
access to every ride in the fun park. The ticketing robot charged Jasmine
for four full tickets and she placed the money in the slot and received the
tickets.
Is formation an issue or is the issue the terms of the contract? What law
will be relevant? Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking – what principle?
The ticketing algorithm, in the robot’s circuits, but not on display at the
entrance to the fun park, required the robots to judge age according to
height. Any person shorter than the average 15 year old was to be given a
restricted ticket, as certain rides were unsuitable for those under the age
of 15. Beryl and Meryl were 12, but unusually tall for their age.
Issue? Law? Principle?
The family enjoyed their day in the fun park, and as a souvenir Bob
bought a set of matching rain ponchos for himself, Jasmine and the
twins. They were very expensive - $45,000 for the set – but, as the
shop assistant indicated, this set was one of a kind and made of very
high quality and very rain resistant waterproof material.
New facts – new issue – What?
Law? –s54 Australian Consumer Law.
Discuss every element e.g. consumer s3 Rain ponchos?
Cases?
The last ride they were hoping to do that day was the Drop of Death.
There was a long queue for this ride, and, while they were in the
queue, Beryl and Meryl were discussing the Primary School Maths
Olympiad at which they hoped to excel this year. The attendant,
hearing this conversation, barred them from the ride as he indicated
that it was a Restricted ride, for those over 15.
Can he? Issue?
At that moment, the weather turned and it started to pour with
rain. Bob, glad of his purchase, pulled out the set of matching
rain ponchos. Unfortunately they did not protect them from
getting wet at all, as the heavy rain went straight through the
rain ponchos.
Issue?
Law?
s54(3) factors?
Advise Jasmine and Bob what rights they may have in
relation to the Drop of Death and the set of rain ponchos.
In your advice consider only the law from Thornton v Shoe
Lane Parking [1970] EWCA Civ 2 and s54 Australian
Consumer Law.
Assignment Two
The Minister for Transport attended a symposium on urban planning in
Copenhagen, and, upon her return, tabled a report which included the following
recommendation:
We investigate using footpaths as multi-modal carriageways, able to be used by
bicyclists as well as pedestrians
This report was greeted with scorn in the Legislative Council where the
representative of the Pedestrian’s Party noted:
Pedestrians need their own space – not to be jostled by bicyclists and other
wheeled intrusions
He then negotiated with the Government, and the Minster for Road Safety
introduced the Protection of Footpaths Bill into the Legislative Assembly. When
reading the Bill in the NSW Parliament a second time the Minister for Road Safety
observed:
For too long now teenagers in Sydney have been terrorising our senior citizens with
their antics on footpaths. This legislation ensures that young people will use
footpaths for their intended purpose – walking. Anyone engaged in disruptive or
wheeled behaviour on our footpaths will be liable to be fined.
The Explanatory Memorandum noted that the purpose of the Bill
included:
...the prevention of accidents occurring when vehicles were
exiting their driveways. Bicycles, skateboards, scooters and
other wheeled conveyances on footpaths are not only a danger
to pedestrians but also to unsuspecting motorists who have a
right to exit their driveways without worrying about colliding with
a wheelbound footpath user.
The Bill passed and received Royal Assent on 1 February 2015.
The Protection of Footpaths Act 2015 (NSW) provided in
part:
3 Objects
The principal objects of this Act are:
To clarify the distinction between roads and footpaths in residential
areas; and
To provide for the safe passage of pedestrians on footpaths in
residential areas.
4 Definitions
In this Act unless the contrary intention appears:
Footpath means any thoroughfare in which pedestrians have right of way
over cars and other wheeled conveyances
8 Prohibited Use of Footpaths
Any person who rides a bicycle, skateboard, scooter or other wheeled
conveyance on a footpath shall be guilty of an offence. Penalty $500.
On the 15th March, 2015 Jennifer is celebrating her 12th birthday.
Her grandmother gives her a new pair of joggers with
retractable wheels in the sole. When she lifts the heel of the
jogger, a wheel clicks in place and she can move by rolling
along. Jennifer is an excellent skater and she is keen to try out
her new joggers on the driveway. She runs down the driveway
towards the road and then leans back on the wheels and
skates onto the footpath just outside the gates, just missing an
elderly woman who is walking past. A local policeman
witnesses the near miss and charges Jennifer.
Advise Jennifer.
In your advice do not consider any issues which may arise
because of Jennifer’s age
PREPARATION
FOR EXAMS
Preparation
• Know what to expect
• LPAB website
• Learning the material
• Summaries
• Approaching open book exams
• What to take in
• Technique
Know what to expect
• http://www.lpab.justice.nsw.gov.au/Pages/lpab/leg
alprofession_current_dip_law_stud/legalprofessio
n_current_dip_law_stud_examinations/legalprofe
ssion_current_dip_law_stud_exam_coverpages.a
spx
• Time-table
• Structure and timing (cover page)
• Past papers
• Exam fit
Learning the material
• Open book
• Do I need to learn the material?
• What to learn
• Lectures
• Readings
• Summaries
Why summaries?
Preparation of summaries helps you:
1. Organise material in a clear and logical
manner
2. Structure your thoughts and ideas
3. Test your understanding of course
materials – if you don’t know it you can’t
summarise it
4. Reduce your notes to a form useful for
study and open book exams
5. Learn course materials
ORGANISE
• You will have
assembled a lot of
material – lecture
notes, case notes,
notes of readings, etc
• Your summaries need
to organise this in a
way which is
accessible and useful
Organisation requires editing
• As you summarise, you should select the
most important points you need to
remember
• These points should be organised around
topics, or themes, or grouped together with
similar ideas, in a way which makes sense
to you.
• Rewriting your notes is NOT preparing a
summary – you also need to RETHINK
your notes
An organised summary is:
• Brief – ideally, every topic should be dealt
with in only one page
• Headings only – your summary should be
key points or headings which remind you of
the main material to be covered, not a
complete restatement of the course
material
• Supported by relevant authorities
(cases/legislation)
STRUCTURE
• “Black holes” are very
dense and full of
matter.
• There is so much
matter in a black hole
that once you enter
there is no escape.
• A good structure
ensures that your
summaries do not
become black holes.
A good structure:
• May be different for every person – as
we all think differently.
• Should be able to work as an essay
plan, or a check list to make sure you
spot and discuss all relevant issues
raised in a question
• Should be structured logically and
supported by relevant material
A good structure:
• Will use headings and dot points
• Won’t use so much information that
the reader gets lost in the detail
• May cross reference to other
summaries if ideas overlap, or you
want to link to related ideas
UNDERSTANDING
• A key purpose of summary preparation is
for you to check you have understood the
course material.
• The process of summarising should expose
gaps in your understanding – and give you
the opportunity to fix them, before the
examiner also looks for any lack of
understanding.
Understand before you
summarise
• The process of preparing a summary will help you
learn, if you check and develop your understanding
along the way.
•If your summaries are nothing more than rewrites of
material you do not understand then they are not
learning tools – but exercises in penmanship.
•You need to rethink for a summary, not simply
rewrite.
Understand what you summarise
• For some people reading the text or other
recommended reading will be sufficient to
understand the lecture material. Others may
have to go wider to other sources to build their
understanding.
• Ask questions, read widely, do whatever it takes
to make sure you understand the material.
• You need to summarise your knowledge, not your
ignorance.
Self preparation
• Because summaries are
prepared so that you can
check your understanding –
and to help you
demonstrate that
understanding in an exam,
the best summaries are self
prepared: made for you, by
you. Every summary may
look different, but be equally
useful to the person who
prepared it.
REDUCE
• Once you understand the
material, then you can reduce
it into a usable summary.
• Summary preparation is a
process of distilling down
lecture notes, case notes and
readings into a very
abbreviated summary, which
reminds you of the key points
at a glance.
Summaries of summaries
• Because summarising is a process of
building understanding rather than just
rewriting notes, the best exam summaries
are often summaries of summaries.
• Preparing summaries is not a one-step
process.
LEARN
• Now your summaries
are ready, the last step is
to learn them.
• Writing the summary is
only part of the process
• You must also know
what is in the summary,
so you can use it in the
exam (and in practice.)
Aide memoire
• A summary is an aide memoire
• The purpose of a summary is to
remind you of the law you already
know
• Summaries cannot teach you law in
exam conditions with which you are
not already familiar.
How to?
• Start by reviewing (and if necessary
rewriting) your lecture notes, case notes
and the notes of other readings from texts
or other sources.
• Make sure your lecture notes are complete
and that you have read enough to
understand the material covered in each
lecture.
• Your lecture notes are the best basis for
your summary preparation.
Examples: Legal Institutions
• Legal Institutions is a thematic course with
a spiralling curriculum which looks at a
number of issues and concepts. One useful
structure would be to prepare a glossary of
terms and concepts commonly
encountered in lectures and in your
reading. Attempting a one sentence
explanation for each of the concepts listed
on the next slide (and others you may add)
is a useful approach.
Concept glossary
• Bicameral Legislature
• Concurrent power/exclusive power
• Constitutional Monarchy
• Democracy
• Division of powers
• Federation
• Independence of the Judiciary
Concept glossary
• Manner and Form provisions
• Parliamentary sovereignty
• Plenary power
• Repugnancy (of Colonial laws)
• Representative government
• Responsible government
• Rule of law
Concept glossary
• Separation of powers
• Judicial Power
• Executive
• Legislature
• s15AA/s15AB
• Ambiguous
Other LI structures
You could also consider using:
• The course outline as the structure for your
summaries
• The powerpoints – construct a summary
around the issues noted in the powerpoints
• A time-line – especially useful for the
historical material and highlighting the
important developments over time
STUDY SKILLS
Approaching Open
Book Exams
Before you start writing
• Set up a time schedule
• Read through the whole exam paper once
• Think before you write
Writing and answering
• Get right to the point
• Develop your argument
• Aim for compactness, completeness and
clarity
• Summarize in your last paragraph
Review (if time available)
• Complete questions left incomplete
• Review, edit correct
Run out of time?
• Out line what you would have said
OPEN BOOK TESTS
• In an open book exam you are evaluated on
understanding rather than recall and
memorization
• You will be expected to:
• Apply material to new situations
• Analyze elements and relationships
• Synthesize, or structure
• Evaluate using your material as evidence
Open book exams
Do not underestimate the
preparation needed for an open
book exam: your time will be
limited, so the key is proper
organization in order to quickly find
data, quotes, examples, and/or
arguments you use in your
answers.
What not to bring

Open book exams generally
allow any non-electronic
materials in the exam room (but
always check the details first.)



What will you bring?
Selection of materials is the
key to success
Why bring the whole library
when you will have neither
time nor room to use it.
A Good Answer:
• Reads and responds to the question
carefully
• Isolates all relevant issues
• Is clearly structured
• Is well supported
• Provides sufficient detail to answer the
question
Review of previous exam
• http://www.lpab.justice.nsw.gov.au/Pages/lpab/legalprofes
sion_current_dip_law_stud/legalprofession_current_dip_l
aw_stud_examinations/legalprofession_current_dip_law_
stud_exam_pastpapers.aspx