3 Decision making
Decision making
Watch the video below for an introduction to the role of decision making in law.
Transcript: Video 2 Decision making
Now that you have been introduced to legal decision making, the next activity gives you an opportunity to try putting your understanding into practice.
Activity 2 Legal decision-making
The following questions are designed to put you in the shoes of a legal decision maker. Again, you do not need to do any research, just try to make the decision you think is right on the basis of the facts that are given and the explanation of the law provided. The law may have been simplified for these exercises. This time, you do not have to make any factual findings, so assume that the facts have already been found or have been agreed by the parties.
Once you have made your decision, you will be able to see what other people’s views are.
1. Trespass to land
You are sitting as a judge in the Exeter County Court. Massbuild Housing Development Plc (‘Massbuild’) is suing Elaine Woodford for the tort of trespass to land. Massbuild bought a large area of land from the Ministry of Defence to build houses. For a number of years, the area was unfenced and Elaine Woodford accepts that for a couple of years she used to walk across the land as it was the shortest route for her to get to the shops and local facilities even though there were signs saying private. Nonetheless, she says that she did not cause any harm. The common law rule is that a claimant can win a claim for trespass to land even if the defendant caused no loss to the claimant.
2. Treasure
You are sitting as a coroner in the Truro Coroner’s Court. Emmanuel James is a farmer whose family have rented land from the Duchy of Cornwall for generations. The James family have suffered a series of unexpected misfortunes and have very little money. While ploughing, Emmanuel James strikes a hard object, which turns out to be a valuable hoard of hundreds of silver Roman coins. The statute (the Treasure Act 1996Footnote 2) says that treasure includes coins which are at least 300 years old that are at least 10% precious metal and that treasure found within land that is part of the Duchy of Cornwall belongs to the Duke of Cornwall (who is currently Prince William).
3. Artificial insemination
This question introduces an issue of law for the first time. Up until this point, the law you have applied has been certain. However, here the facts are certain, but the law that applies is uncertain. You therefore need to make a finding of law by deciding what the law is before you can apply it.
You are sitting as a civil judge in the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Andrew Wallace would like a divorce from his wife, Sandra Wallace. Mr and Mrs Wallace have been separated for 14 months and Mrs Wallace is pregnant. Assume that the law says that a person is only entitled to a divorce if they have committed adultery. Sandra Wallace admits that Andrew Wallace is not the father, but says that she became pregnant as a result of artificial insemination, not through intercourse. You need to decide the issue of law of whether artificial insemination amounts to adultery.
Now you have studied both fact-finding and decision-making. In the next section, you will study the third important stage of adjudication, giving reasons.
Footnotes
- 2 Treasure Act 1996 c.24.Back to main text