USING IRAC/ IPAC OR AIRAC/AIPAC IN ANSWERING PROBLEM QUESTION
The ‘Problem Question’
A special characteristic of law study is the ‘problem question’. This is a question which involves advising a party on a hypothetical legal situation. A set of facts will be given to you, which you must assume to be undisputed. It is for you then to advise your putative client as to how a judge would approach dealing with this situation. It is the nearest thing possible to the bulk of the work done by barristers and by litigation solicitors in writing opinions or advices to clients.
A technique for answering all kinds of problem questions was developed some time ago in US law schools. They call it IRAC (stands for Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion), some schools in UK call it IPAC - which stands for Issue, Principle (don’t forget the exceptions as well as the rules!), Application, Conclusion.
The IRAC method is a framework for organising your answer to problem questions. The basic structure is Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion. IRAC is a “formula” that is used throughout the broad sphere of legal writing by lawyers and judges. It is also permissible to have area of law in addition to the IRAC. This framework for structuring your answer will ensure that you have written a complete solution. The problem question looks like passages from a novel usually embedded with problems.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction of your answer in problem based question will do two things namely stating the area (s) of law and identifying issues .
AREA OF LAW.
Identify area of law means specific area where the legal issues or liabilities are arising from and not area of law per se
For example. The area of law applicable to the liabilities or legal issues in this question is privity of contract (not law of contract), occupiers’ liability (not law of torts).
ISSUE - an issue, in legal terminology, is something likely to be in dispute between the parties. In problem questions, this is always an issue of law - ie, a dispute as to the proper legal principle and its application, rather than an issue of fact to be settled by evidence. Start your approach to a problem question by identifying all legal matters likely to be disputed - so, a question about a contract dispute will never involve a dispute as to every aspect of contract law; you have to spot what can clearly be accepted by both parties and identify and deal with only those things they are going to be arguing over. The identification of these issues is what makes up the Introduction to your answer. Have a heading ‘Introduction’ right at the start of your answer, in which you tell the reader what the issues are.
Then, in respect of each issue in turn, make a heading - something that summarizes the nature of the issue, eg, Was Jane’s Poster an Offer or an Invitation to Treat?
Then briefly restate the issue. This is followed by:
RULE - state, concisely, what the rule or principle of law is, starting with the rule and following with any possibly relevant exceptions. NB: The law or rules must be stated in a command style. For each rule/exception, cite some authority. For example:
Advertisements, shelf displays and shop window displays are generally an invitation to treat, not an offer capable of acceptance: Fisher v Bell [1961] 1 KB 394. However, if the circumstances are such that it seems genuinely to be an offer to the world, and all that is required is some act on behalf of the offeree in order to meet the terms of the offer, then it may amount to an actual offer: Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co [1893] 1 QB 256.
APPLICATION OF LEGAL RULES TO FACTS -
Having stated what the applicable legal rule or principle is that will allow us to resolve the issue in question, you need to apply it to the facts of your hypothetical case. For example:
Jane’s poster is similar in effect to the display of flick-knives in Fisher v Bell or to the advertisement in Partridge v Crittenden [1968] 1 WLR 1204, because as in that case, Jane’s poster advertises something for which there is a limited supply, so that she cannot have meant to be bound by acceptances from an unlimited number of people.
Under application 3 things are required.
1. Identification and extraction of relevant facts from the question.
2. Apply the law to the facts in the question.
3. Support the application with case(s) law or judicial reasoning.
Identification and extraction of relevant facts
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28 авг 2024
