LLAW6259 Chap.8 Legal Reasoning with IRAC
Legal Reasoning with IRAC
A cycle run once per issue, not a template for an answer
IRAC is the legal reasoning approach this course teaches and it is applied to each issue separately. State the issue. State the rule, which means a proposition of law together with the authority for it. Apply the rule to the facts. Conclude on that issue, then begin again at the next item on your numbered list.
A problem with five issues therefore produces five runs and five mini conclusions, and the overall conclusion is assembled from those. Two lines are worth writing before you start: the overall issue, for instance whether a contract was formed, and the first issue, for instance whether there is an offer.
Losing the first line produces a general essay; losing the second produces a conclusion that no chain of reasoning reaches.
The rule is two things and both are required
A proposition without authority is an assertion. An authority without a proposition is a citation the reader has to interpret.
The instruction on the proposition is to state it correctly and to go to the primary source rather than working from a remembered textbook summary.
On selection, three instructions pull the same way: cite authority for the main propositions using legislation and cases; cite only authorities that determine a genuine issue, since you do not need every case on the point; and cite the most persuasive authority for the proposition, meaning the highest court, in the most authoritative report, closest to your facts.
In an answer capped at 1,250 words every extra citation is taken from the application, and the application is where the reasoning happens.
A complete citation has five layers
State the full name of the case or the Ordinance. Give the full citation with the correct brackets. Include the specific section and subsection where the rule comes from legislation.
Include the specific page or paragraph for the point you are relying on. Name the judge who said it. Each layer answers a question the reader would otherwise have to research, and dropping one means the reader does work you were paid to do. Three further decisions arise almost every time. Usually it is not necessary to describe the facts of your authority, unless their similarity or difference is itself part of the argument.
Lengthy quotations should be avoided. And an unfavourable case should be considered and distinguished rather than ignored.
Break a rule into its elements, because the elements are your application
The key to legislation is to identify each individual requirement and to ensure you consider each part. A provision is almost never one condition; it is a list, and the list is the structure of your application.
The same discipline applies to a rule drawn from a case: a definition of an offer as an expression, by words or conduct, of a willingness to be bound on specified terms, effective as soon as there is acceptance by the person to whom it is made, has parts, and each part is a place where a set of facts can fail.
Application then means taking the rule to the facts you were actually given rather than offering a general account of the law in its place, and weighing each side with its strengths and weaknesses, because a client wants the odds of losing as well as of winning.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The overall issue and the first issue, written before anything else
- 02
Why IRAC runs once per issue rather than once per answer
- 03
Proposition of law and authority as two separate requirements
- 04
Which authorities to cite, and why fewer is usually better
- 05
The five layers of a complete citation
- 06
Describing the facts of an authority, quoting, and handling adverse cases
- 07
Breaking a statutory provision into its individual requirements
- 08
What application means, and the arguments for and against
Run one issue through all four steps
- 2State the overall issue and then the first issue.
- 2State the rule as a proposition with its authority.
- 3Apply the elements of that proposition to these facts.
- 1Conclude on this issue and name the next one.
Key terms
- Proposition Of Law
- The rule itself, stated in a sentence, as distinct from the case or section cited as authority for it.
- Authority
- The legislation or case relied on to support a proposition, cited completely enough that a reader can reach the exact passage.
- Application
- The step joining the rule to the facts of this problem. Restating the rule in different words is the commonest substitute for it.
- Mini Conclusion
- The answer to one issue, from which the overall conclusion is later assembled.
- Element
- One of the individual requirements a provision or a definition contains, each of which the facts must satisfy separately.
- Unfavourable Case
- An authority pointing against your client's position, which the course requires you to consider and try to distinguish rather than omit.
Legal Reasoning with IRAC FAQ
What does IRAC actually stand for and how is it used?
Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion, and it is applied to each issue rather than to the problem as a whole. State the issue as a question. State the rule as a proposition of law together with its authority. Apply that rule to the facts of the particular problem. Conclude on that issue. Then run it again for the next issue on your list.
A problem with five issues produces five runs and five mini conclusions, and the overall conclusion is built from those.
How many cases should I cite for a single point?
As few as will do the work. The guidance is to cite only authorities that determine a genuine issue, that every reported case on a point does not need citing, and that for each proposition you should choose the authority carrying most weight. That usually means the highest court, in the most authoritative report, on facts closest to yours.
In a word-limited answer each extra citation is words taken from the application, which is where the reasoning happens.
Should I set out the facts of the case I am citing?
Usually not. You are citing the case for the proposition it establishes rather than retelling it, so decide whether the facts of that case are actually important to your argument. Refer to them when their similarity or difference is part of what you are arguing, for instance when you are distinguishing.
Lengthy quotations should also be avoided: they spend your word count on someone else's sentences and hide which part you are relying on.
Assessment move
Take a rule you know and write out its elements as a numbered list, then take a short set of facts and write one sentence of application against each element. Doing that converts a rule you can recite into a rule you can use, which is the whole distinction this course is built on.
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