Legal Writing Research Articles

Genre Analysis of Law Research Article Abstracts and Application in Legal Writing Teaching

Investigating the rhetorical structure of law research article (LRA) abstracts is essential for researchers and instructors in legal writing. Despite their significance in academic discourse, the specific rhetorical strategies used in LRA abstracts remain underexplored. This study examines the rhetorical moves in English LRA abstracts using Hyland’s framework. Fifty LRA abstracts, randomly selected from the Journal of East Asia and International Law and Law in Context, both of which are indexed in Scopus and ISI Web of Science, were analyzed as the corpus. The research employed a qualitative content analysis approach to identify and categorize the rhetorical moves. The study reveals that the purpose and introduction moves are the most prevalent, underscoring the importance of clearly stating objectives and establishing context. The product and conclusion move, which summarize key findings and extend research implications, follow in prevalence. In contrast, the method move appears less frequently, reflecting the genre's focus on legislative analysis rather than detailed methodologies. These findings are valuable for law researchers aiming to publish in international law journals and contribute to a broader understanding of genre analysis in legal writing. The study offers practical implications for scholars and educators, enhancing the effectiveness of legal academic communication.

Legal Analysis of the Legal Consequences of a Deed of Sale and Purchase Agreement (PPJB) for Land Ownership Rights That is Unilaterally Cancelled

It is undeniable that problems still often occur in society regarding PPJB deeds, one of which is the unilateral cancellation of PPJB deeds which can have legal consequences for the parties. This study aims to examine the legal regulations regarding the cancellation of PPJB deeds of land ownership rights, as well as the legal consequences of PPJB deeds that are unilaterally canceled. The legal research method uses a normative juridical research method with laws and regulations and legal writings as legal materials. The research approach used in this study is the statutory approach and the conceptual approach. Data analysis uses qualitative data analysis. The results of this study are: first, the legal regulations regarding the cancellation of PPJB deeds are regulated in the Civil Code, namely that unilateral cancellation is justified by law if the parties to an agreement expressly agree to set aside the provisions of Article 1266 of the Civil Code under any conditions, on condition that it must be based on a judge's decision. Unilateral cancellation of an agreement due to default without a Judge's decision is not a problem as long as the other party also accepts the decision, but if one party refuses to be accused of default, then the parties submit to the Judge to assess whether or not there is a default. Second, the consequences of the cancellation of the agreement are regulated in Articles 1451 and 1452 of the Civil Code, where the legal consequences are to return the situation to its original position as it was before the agreement was made. In the cancellation of the PPJB deed, the seller has an obligation to return the amount of money that has been paid by the buyer minus the costs that have been incurred by the seller, while the buyer must pay a fine to the seller due to the default that was made.

A Gloss to the Judgement of the Supreme Court of 24 January 2020, III CZP 51/19, on Legal Nature of Benefits under Unit-Linked Life Insurance

The judgment discussed herein concerns the essential characteristics of the unit-linked life insurance, which play a major role for the insurance theory and practice. Given the complexity of this type of contact, the nature of benefits on the part of the insurance company gives rise to some questions in legal writings and in the jurisprudence, thus justifying the need for an in-depth analysis thereof.

Діяльність Володимира Старосольського як адвоката та громадського діяча у сфері захисту мовних прав українців в Другій Речі Посполитій

The article examines Volodymyr Starosolskyi’s contributions as a lawyer, public figure, and scholar of constitutionalism, specifically focusing on his role in defending the language rights of Ukrainians in the Second Polish Republic. This is explored within the broader context of the Ukrainian national question in the early 20th century. The article highlights the political, legal, and social realities of the time, detailing Starosolskyi’s involvement in judicial political processes against Ukrainians in Poland, as well as his political and legal writings. The study is based on a significant range of sources, including Volodymyr Starosolskyi’s correspondence, scientific treatises on language policy, and courtroomspeeches. Thesematerials provide a comprehensive understanding of his worldview and beliefs. Particular attention is given to the formation of his ideas, which were shaped by prominent Ukrainian public figures and legal scholars, such as I. Voloshyn, R. Dombachevskyi, M. Glushkevych, S. Dnistryanskyi, K. Levytskyi, and I. Franko. The article also uncovers lesser-known aspects of Starosolskyi’s legal practice, including his active participation in the Union of Ukrainian Lawyers, a professional association dedicated to defending the national rights of Ukrainians. Additionally, it analyzes the judicial political trials of the 1930s, in which Starosolskyi defended the language rights of Ukrainians. The author concludes that Starosolskyi’s involvement in the human rights movement in Western Ukraine, particularly in response to the Polish government’s discriminatory policies, became the driving force of his legal and public work. His advocacy for Ukrainian language rights was a central aspect of his broader efforts to address Ukraine’s national and sociopolitical challenges and to realize the vision of an independent Ukrainian state.

Spinoza and Maimonides on human perfection and the love of God

Part Five of Spinoza’s Ethics includes a notoriously challenging set of propositions about human perfection. Part of the difficulty in interpreting these elements of the work arises from neglecting important philosophical background for the relevant propositions, namely, medieval Jewish rationalism and Maimonides in particular. Spinoza was well acquainted with Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexted as well as his halakhic or legal writings. For both Spinoza and Maimonides (who, in turn, is a good Aristotelian on this matter), human perfection is essentially a cognitive matter, albeit one with an affective component, whereby the highest good for a human being consists in the superb and joyful intellectual condition that is the knowledge and love of God. My goal in this essay, then, is to see whether any light can be thrown on Spinoza’s views on this topic by considering them through a Maimonidean lens.

Образовательные онлайн-технологии как эффективное средство обучения английской терминологии языка для специальных целей (ЯСЦ) студентов неязыковых специальностей вуза: междисциплинарный подход

The paper describes the research conducted by the team of the English teachers of English for Humanities Dpt. of Southern federal university. The investigation aimed at the study of effectiveness of learning English terminology for special purposes by the non-linguistics university program students with the help of IT-technologies. In the experiment the online course "Legal Communication: Legal Writing and Oral Communication in the Practice of Law", developed by the interdisciplinary team of university teachers of the Faculty of Law and the English teachers of English for Humanities Dpt. on the Moodle LMS. Interdisciplinary approach applied in the course of investigation embraced the main principles of two sciences: methods of teaching foreign languages and terminology study. The results obtained show that both the usage of educational IT-technologies and the educational IT- products increases the students’ motivation for learning the language of their future profession if the content of the educational IT- products is thoroughly developed on the main subjects of theoretical and practical terminology study: the description of the history of formation and development of a language for special purposes, the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that influenced its development, its vocabulary, style and genres, the techniques of appropriate use of terms in the special context.

Legal Writing, Citation and Proof Reading in Legal Research

Legal Writing, Citation and Proof Reading in Legal Research

Life imprisonment in Poland: Issues and Challenges

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this article is to analyze recent legislative changes to life imprisonment in Poland and to examine the consequences of introducing an absolute form of this penalty, called “an absolute life sentence”. Methodology: This paper combines two methods: a comparison of legal documents and legal writers' thoughts and author observation of this phenomenon. Main findings of the study: The main conclusion is that the changes introduced by the legislator concerning life imprisonment —specifically, the court discretion to optionally impose a parole ban under two circumstances— may not result in positive effects for crime deterrence. Consequently, this could worsen the already challenging task of educational rehabilitation efforts with the population of life prisoners. The Polish penitentiary system will face challenges related to ageing prisoners serving life sentences without parole and the natural consequences of this issue. Furthermore, the recent changes could make it difficult for Poland to cooperate on criminal law matters with countries that consider 'absolute life imprisonment' to be inhumane. Application of the study: The presented research relates to various scientific fields, e.g. criminal law, executive penal law and sociology. Originality/Novelty of the study: This problem is still a current matter. Life imprisonment is a relatively new punishment in Poland, and the Polish penitentiary system continues to look for new ways and methods for dealing with group of life-sentenced prisoners. As a result of the latest amendment, the Polish prison administration will once again face the challenge of implementing completely new severe penalty which is a life imprisonment.

Can AI Make a Case? AI Vs. Lawyer in The Dutch Legal Context

The integration of AI, specifically GPT-4, into the legal field is a subject of both potential promise and intricate challenges. This thesis delves into the transformational possibilities of AI within the Dutch legal context, examining not only the quality and persuasiveness of AI-generated legal argumentation but also its competence in information retrieval, as measured by models’ ability to spot relevant legal issues. An experiment was conducted with 25 legal professionals, using a real-world Dutch case with the purpose to assess GPT-4’s capabilities against that of a human lawyer. To enable GPT-4 to handle case documents, the author first performed so-called co-reference resolution to remove ambiguities. Given the token limitations of GPT-4, a so-called prompt reducer technique was used to compress the text, retaining essential information. The above methods produced a coherent and full case summary within GPT-4’s token constraints. This case summary, together with original lawyer’s letter (denoted as Text A) was fed to ChatGPT-4 to obtain its AI-written alternative (Text B). The study subjects were presented with a case summary as well as both texts and asked for their preferences. The outcome of the experiment is as follow: 80% of participants chose the AI’s composed legal document, demonstrating a strong preference for both its linguistic competencies as well its ability to spot relevant legal issues. This preference for GPT-4 writing is very consistent among genders, age groups and professions surveyed. Contextualising these findings within the broader implications for legal practice, the thesis explores potential benefits including increased access to justice and transformation of certain legal procedures. Insights and recommendations are offered for legal professionals, considering the technological evolution and ethical considerations inherent in AI integration. Acknowledging the need for further exploration, the study recognises its own limitations and encourages replication to solidify the understanding of AI’s transformative role in the legal realm. GPT-4, AI, AI vs Lawyer, Legal Writing, Language Technology, LLM, Dutch Legal Context

Legal Writing Manual

In an effort to teach law students to “think like a lawyer” and develop their professional identities, attention has turned to helping students self-regulate their learning. To encourage self-regulated learning among her first-year law students, one of us (Tanner) adapted a self-regulated learning prompt developed by the other (Roderick) to assign The Legal Writing Manual—a capstone project in her first-year legal writing course, which tasks students with instructing others in processes and practices for composing legal memoranda and appellate briefs. Each student’s manual is built upon previous analytical and self-reflective work carried out in a first-year legal writing course. The experience of articulating instructions for legal writing encourages students to self-regulate their learning by re-thinking knowledge and practices for legal writing.

Transfer Shares of Shareholders Whereabouts Are Unknown to a Limited Liability Company: (Study Approach the Concept of Expiration)

Aims and scope. This research aims to know the legal status of shares in a limited liability company if the shareholder's whereabouts are unknown in the case of PT APCKP and PT Sun Toy and to analyze the concept of transferring shares in a limited liability company if the shareholder's whereabouts are unknown which provides legal certainty. Method. The form of prescriptive research with statutory and conceptual approaches, using normative juridical methods where the legal materials used are sourced from laws and regulations, books, legal writings and journals, as well as dictionaries or encyclopedias. Using a qualitative method of analysis by interpreting the legal materials that have been processed. The results of the research show that (1) Unknown shareholders in a PT have implications for the existence and validity of the PT, in this case disrupting the quorum at the RUPS, transferring shares becomes difficult because approval from unknown shareholders cannot be obtained, hampering the process of dissolving the PT, and can affect the ownership and control structure of the PT. The request through the court for the unknown shareholder to be determined in a state of absence (afwezigheid) made by PT APCKP and PT Sun Toy, does not provide legal certainty because the concept of absence (afwezigheid) cannot be applied in the case of transfer of rights to shares, which creates ambiguity and is prone to causing new legal problems;(2) KUHPerdata has regulated people whose whereabouts are unknown or have disappeared, in this case the Balai Harta Peninggalan will be appointed as the party that will manage the assets left by the owner. Furthermore, it has also regulated that property rights can be lost if they have expired, which is also adopted in the provisions of the UUPT 2007 regarding the expiration of profits (dividend). When looking at these two concepts, when applied in the transfer of rights to shares owned by unknown shareholders, the concept of expiration is more efficient and provides legal certainty compared to the concept of absence (afwezigheid).

Juridical Study of Inheritance Rights for Children of Foreign Citizens who Become Heirs of the Inheritance of Indonesian Citizenship Heirs in the Form of Land Rights

The issue of citizenship is an important issue, especially when it relates to the inheritance rights of people who have changed citizenship to become foreigners. This research aims to examine the legal rules for inheritance rights for children with foreign citizenship who become heirs to the inheritance of Indonesian citizen heirs in the form of land rights, as well as the legal implications of inheritance rights for heirs with foreign citizenship. The legal research method uses doctrinal research methods with statutory regulations and legal writings as legal material. Data analysis uses qualitative. The results of this research are: first, inheritance law in Indonesia in principle regulates that all heirs are entitled to an equal share of inheritance, without distinguishing between the gender or nationality of the heirs, but rather based on blood and marriage relations. So even though the heir is a foreign citizen (WNA), the heir still has the right to receive an inheritance from an heir who is an Indonesian citizen (WNI). However, if the heir's inheritance is in the form of land rights with ownership rights linked to the principle of nationality, then based on Article 21 paragraph (3) UUPA, foreigners who obtain rights to land with ownership rights due to inheritance are required to release these rights to other parties in a period of 1 (one) year, otherwise the right to the land will be forfeited and transferred to the State. Second, the legal implications for inheritance rights for heirs who are foreign citizens if the heir's inheritance is in the form of land rights, that is, if the land rights have the status of Ownership Rights, then the heirs are still entitled to their inheritance rights, but because foreigners cannot have rights property, heirs who are foreign citizens must reduce their rights to land certificates in accordance with the UUPA, namely to use rights, or sell the land so that they get cash from the sale in order to continue receiving their rights as heirs.

How to Improve the Explanatory Power of an Intelligent Textbook: a Case Study in Legal Writing

AbstractExplanatory processes are at the core of scientific investigation, legal reasoning, and education. However, effectively explaining complex or large amounts of information, such as that contained in a textbook or library, in an intuitive, user-centered way is still an open challenge. Indeed, different people may search for and request different types of information, even though texts typically have a predefined exposition and content. With this paper, we investigate how explanatory AI can better exploit the full potential of the vast and rich content library at our disposal. Based on a recent theory of explanations from Ordinary Language Philosophy, which frames the explanation process as illocutionary question-answering, we have developed a new type of interactive and adaptive textbook. Using the latest question-answering technology, our e-book software (YAI4Edu, for short) generates on-demand, expandable explanations that can help readers effectively explore teaching materials in a pedagogically productive way. It does this by extracting a specialized knowledge graph from a collection of books or other resources that helps identify the most relevant questions to be answered for a satisfactory explanation. We tested our technology with excerpts from a textbook that teaches how to write legal memoranda in the U.S. legal system. Then, to see whether YAI4Edu-enhanced textbooks are better than random and existing, general-purpose explanatory tools, we conducted a within-subjects user study with more than 100 English-speaking students. The students rated YAI4Edu’s explanations the highest. According to the students, the explanatory content generated by YAI4Edu is, on average, statistically better than two baseline alternatives (P values below .005).

Algorithmic Thinking for the Legal Writing: The Case of Italian Election Law

We examine the Italian election law as a case study to illustrate how the algorithmic thinking can productively interoperate with the legal language to increase the transparency of the legal text, and to enable better reasoning about the procedural content of the law. The effort to rephrase the text of the law in algorithmic terms revealed that the election procedure is under-specified, so that the allocation of seats between constituencies may differ depending on the actual sequence of ballot operations performed by the scrutineers. This may lead to legal uncertainty in a critical section of the election law that one would expect to be fully determined. We then discuss the difference between algorithm and software in the legal context, illustrating how the algorithmic language acts as an interface between the textual description of a legal procedure and its mathematical or computational formalization. Hence we put forward the concept of algorithmic normativity, that is the power of the algorithmic language (different from software’s code) to legally express procedures at an appropriate abstraction level, balancing transparency with scientific precision.

The Legal Writing of Sir Edward Coke, the Anglo-Saxons, and Lex Terrae

ABSTRACT This article examines the treatises and law reports of Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634), the Attorney General under Elizabeth I and later, Chief Justice of the courts of Common Pleas and King’s Bench. The article juxtaposes Coke’s expressions of the common law’s uniqueness and antiquity with the historical scholarship of Coke’s peers that illuminated English legal, cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and institutional identity. This antiquarian historicism increasingly located the source of English ethno-cultural identity in the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. Whilst Coke’s belief in an immemorial common law necessarily placed its origins in the native British past, the following argues that Coke was receptive to contemporary scholarship that had solidified the association of the Anglo-Saxons with a discrete sense of Englishness. Indeed, subscription to the burgeoning antiquarian consensus that the Anglo-Saxons were the first English people was not necessarily incongruous with belief in an immemorial, pre-Saxon common law.

Land Rights and Legislation: Uncovering the Veil of Property Law in Indonesia

This study examines the complex terrain of property rights in Indonesia, revealing gaps, historical trends, legislative impact, and theoretical insights. The method used is qualitative. Legal writings (constitutions, statutes, commentaries), court decisions, policy papers, and historical records relating to property and land rights law in Indonesia were considered as the primary research sources. Data were analysed using triangulation and N-Vivo. The results show that modern property law is the result of historical developments characterised by post-independence changes and colonial legacies. A careful balance is required to address the challenges posed by the encroachment of economic interests on legislative provisions intended to protect people's rights. The results show that modern property law is the result of historical developments characterized by post-independence changes and colonial legacies. A careful balance is required to address the challenges posed by the encroachment of economic interests on legislative provisions intended to protect people's rights. The weaknesses and contradictions found in the legislative framework highlight the need for flexible solutions to meet the changing demands of society. The intersection between Islamic law, state law and customary law is best understood through the lens of legal pluralism theory. The consequences for marginalized groups highlight the urgency to prioritize their rights, which requires community engagement and participatory legal reform. The theoretical implications of legal pluralism support it as an analytical instrument, and the comparative analysis places Indonesia in a global context and offers suggestions for useful policy responses. The study concludes by recommending a flexible legal framework, international cooperation, and further investigation to support a more inclusive and egalitarian understanding of land rights in Indonesia.

Who Is Being "Assisted"? A Call for Transparency in Hiring Visiting Assistant Professors (VAPs) in Legal Writing

Who Is Being "Assisted"? A Call for Transparency in Hiring Visiting Assistant Professors (VAPs) in Legal Writing

Peer Review in Advanced Legal Writing Course

Peer Review in Advanced Legal Writing Course

The Cognitive Power of Analogies in the Legal Writing Classroom

The Cognitive Power of Analogies in the Legal Writing Classroom

Doing Less-reflections on Cognitive Load and Hard Choices in Teaching First-year Legal Writing

Doing Less-reflections on Cognitive Load and Hard Choices in Teaching First-year Legal Writing