Reading US Cases: Unit 1 Quiz

Which of the following are possible meanings of the word “case” in English? Check all correct answers (there are more than one!)

Why do law students spend so much time reading cases?

Because cases make law in the U.S. legal system.
To understand how judges think.
To learn how to apply abstract rules to specific facts.
To learn to use your imagination to think of hypotheticals and other possibilities in connection with a rule or law.
To help clients understand how the law will apply to their situation.
To predict how a court will likely treat a situation.
To understand the relationship between statutes and cases in a common law system.

Why is it still necessary for lawyers in the U.S. to read cases, even in a field of law such as Criminal Law which is primarily statute-based?

Because most statutes are written in Latin or French, which most Americans cannot understand.
Because the statutes are irrelevant in a common law system.
Because cases interpret the meaning of statutes. And those interpretations are part of the law.
Because cases illustrate the evil of crime and the need for lawyers to work tirelessly to eradicate crime from society.

Is this document a case?

Is this document a case?