New law students should understand that legal essays, as their name suggests, are distinct from literary essays, literary dissertations and philosophical dissertations, as they follow a different method and set of rules from the exercises they may have studied in their final year of secondary school.
Definition of legal essay
A legal essay is an exercise in which both law students and legal professionals are required to apply their accumulated legal knowledge (gained through courses, personal research and professional experience) to a given legal question.
With the stage thus set, we can now move on to the purpose of the subject.
The stages of legal writing
A legal essay is an exercise that consists of three parts: the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion. In most cases, the topic of a legal essay is addressed in two parts, with the conclusion being considered optional.
Part One: Introduction to the legal essay
The introduction to the legal essay consists of seven elements:
1- Generality
There are two options for achieving generality: the lawyer can either start with a general idea that encompasses the subject or start with the definition of the subject's keyword.
2- Presentation of the subject
The subject must therefore be presented and, if possible, explained briefly.
3- Delimitation of the subject (optional)
Several concepts may be related to the subject, or the subject in question may be found within a large set of legal concepts. Delimitation therefore allows you to explain or state why you consider a particular concept to be necessary or unnecessary for the study of the subject.
4- History of the subject (optional)
5- The relevance of the topic
A topic always has relevance, which may be theoretical or practical. The applicant must therefore demonstrate the legal importance of the topic. In other words, they must explain why the topic is relevant and try to demonstrate this in a few words.
6- The legal issue
These are the various questions around which the ideas in the development will be developed.
7- The outline
The outline indicates the steps to be followed to address the legal issue. This implies that the outline must be consistent with the ideas that will be developed.
Part Two: Developing the legal essay
he development of a legal essay follows a unique and mandatory methodology. The development is presented as follows: I and II with sub-sections A and B in which the different ideas from sections I and II will be developed. To write a very good essay, you must first put forward an argument, explain the argument, give an example and, finally, if possible, reinforce it with a quotation.
Part Three: Conclusion of the legal essay
In principle, the conclusion of a legal essay is optional. However, some teachers may ask students to write a conclusion, or the applicant may wish to write one themselves. It should be noted that the conclusion is not a summary of the ideas developed, but rather a kind of opening that allows the student to address a topic related to the assignment that has not been covered.
Example of an introduction to a legal essay
Subject: the constituent elements of the state
General information: The study of constitutional law is linked to the state, as constitutional law itself deals with several concepts, namely: the state, the constitution, political power, sovereignty, political regimes and many others.
Presentation and definition of the subject's key word: in this exercise, we will focus solely on the state. The state is an essential concept in the study of law in general and especially in the study of constitutional law, as Carré de Malberg might say. The state is defined as an entity with legal personality under public law. Therefore, addressing the topic of the constituent elements of the state means highlighting the elements on which the existence or birth of the state is based.
The relevance of the subject: this subject is quite relevant and of great interest to us in that it allows us to understand the origins of the existence of any state and, thereby, its recognition at the international level.
Legal issue: the question arises: what are the constituent elements of the state?
Outline: the answer to this question requires us to look at the physical element that constitutes the state (I) on the one hand, and the spatial and political elements (II) on the other.
NB: This is an introduction for beginners. Experienced students can adapt it to suit their needs. However, it should be noted that it outlines the different stages of a legal essay introduction, which must be strictly adhered to.
Other examples: