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Bermingham & Brennan: Tort Law Directions

Essay questions

One of the mistakes students most frequently make when answering essay questions in tort is failing to ensure they understand what the question is about. The law of tort applies to a wide variety of different situations and the aim of an essay question will usually be to assess your knowledge and understanding of the way in which a specific aspect of the law has developed and evaluate its current position. Your understanding of any particular aspect of tort will be demonstrated by:

  1. Outlining the history of the topic under discussion.

  2. Using relevant case law or statute to illustrate the key legal principles.

  3. Providing examples of how these principles have been interpreted in subsequent cases.

  4. Illustrating any exceptions to the key legal principles.

  5. Making an evaluation the present state of the law, highlighting and areas of ambiguity in the current law.

  6. Considering arguments for alternative actions or possibilities using cases or journal articles to support these arguments.

It is important to note that whether answering an essay or a problem question in law there is rarely a 'right answer': there is simply a right approach. The right approach is to present sufficient and relevant information in a clearly structured and well expressed manner with proper referencing of sources. With a tort essay, it is not always a lack of knowledge that lets a student down - quite often, it is a lack of structure in the arguments and a failure to support the discussion with relevant authority that is the main problem. Therefore, in order to obtain maximum benefit from your study of tort, it is very important to develop good essay writing skills to enable you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding.