1L - First Year Lesson Topics

Compiled legislative histories are collections of the documents that make up the legislative history of a law. They save researchers the time and frustration of collecting the documents themselves. This lesson builds upon the CALI lesson How to Research Federal Legislative History. While it is not essential to complete that lesson first, doing so will improve your understanding of compiled legislative histories.

This lesson is about Legal Encyclopedias in print format. As one of the main types of secondary resources for legal research, Legal Encyclopedias can be useful for a variety of basic legal research tasks. This lesson will give you an overview of legal encyclopedias, explain how they are used in legal research, and run through a couple of hypotheticals. The lesson focuses on one of the two legal encyclopedias covering American Law in general - American Jurisprudence 2d (Am. Jur. 2d) - and gives some examples of state legal encyclopedias.

This lesson teaches students how to use online citators to confirm that a case is still "good law"--meaning, the case still represents existing law. This lesson focuses on the online citators of Shepard's on Lexis+ and KeyCite on Westlaw. The lesson assumes students know how to use digests and how to create a research strategy.

This lesson is intended to teach you the basic approaches to finding statutes. It is assumed that you are already familiar with the forms of statutory publication when you run this lesson. See the lessons "Introduction to State and Federal Statutes" or "Forms of Federal Statutory Publication" or "Codification" if you need to review these matters first.

This lesson will give students a basic introduction to using the Internet for legal research. Students will consider when it is appropriate to use the Internet as a research tool in legal practice. Students will then be introduced to three practical approaches to doing legal research on the Internet.

This lesson explores discharge of a contract by modification, both at common law and under the UCC. It can be run either as an introduction to the study of modification or as a review after you have completed your study.

This lesson takes a look at the basic aspects of the contractual element of Consideration. In a typical transaction, the consideration (described as a bargained-for-exchange) is what induces the making of the promise by the offeror. In turn, the promise induces the furnishing of the consideration by the offeree. Consideration is the ordinary means for justifying the enforcement of the promises by the parties. This lesson sets out the basic requisites for establishing consideration.

This lesson deals with the formation of contracts under Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (excluding § 2-207 issues). Under UCC § 2-204, a contract can be formed in any manner sufficient to show agreement, even if the parties leave open terms. This lesson will explore the effect of the difference in formation between common law and Article 2.

This lesson explores discharge of a debt by accord and satisfaction. It can be run either as an introduction to the study of accord and satisfaction or as a review after you have completed your study.

This brief lesson will familiarize the student with the basic parts of a case (i.e., the written decision of a court) published in print and on Westlaw.

This lesson is an exploration of the law of torts enabling a person to obtain compensation for wrongful interference with personal property. The exploration uses the concepts of interests, invasion, conduct and remedy as the vehicles for developing understanding of the cause of action and its operation. Each section of the lesson will focus on one of these components, present the theory, and then give the student an opportunity to apply the theory or explore some of its ramifications.

This lesson explores the cause of action of conversion as a means of compensation for intentional interferences with personal property. It will examine the several components of interest, invasion, conduct and remedy as the conceptual vehicles for study. Each section of the lesson will focus on one of these components, present the theory, and then give the student an opportunity to apply the theory or explore some of its ramifications.

This lesson covers assignment of contract rights and delegation of contract duties. You can run it either as an introduction to the topic or as a review after you have studied it.

This lesson deals with the problem created by the Battle of the Forms. At common law, the mirror image rule requires an acceptance to be exactly like the offer. The rule is reversed under the Uniform Commercial Code, however. Under UCC § 2-207, an acceptance is still an acceptance even though it states different or additional terms from the offer. This lesson will explore the effect of such different or additional terms and when they are operative.

This lesson introduces students to the concepts of ripeness and mootness. This lesson is geared to students who have studied these concepts in class (perhaps some time ago in their constitutional law classes) and wish to delve into the subject more deeply.

At common law, in order for a contract to be binding on the parties, the terms must be sufficiently definite or the contract will fail. This lesson explores the boundaries of the doctrine of indefiniteness.

This lesson will provide the student with the tools to effectively judge the content of web pages. Included in the exercise are four criteria for evaluation: authority, accuracy, comprehensiveness and currency. Each of these concepts is defined through the use of descriptive text followed by screen images of actual law-related web sites to illustrate the concepts.

This lesson deals with one aspect of contract formation, acceptance. Acceptance is the manifestation of assent that is made by the offeree in response to an offer. In this lesson, you will learn how a party can accept an offer at common law. The lesson takes up issues such as the manner of acceptance, who can accept, silence as acceptance, rejection and counter-offer. The lesson ends with a short analysis exercise on the subject of acceptance.

This lesson takes a look at the Mailbox Rule. The offeror, as master of the offer, may insist that the offeree accept by means of the mail (or some similar form delivery, such as e-mail). Alternatively, the offer may not specify a means of acceptance and the offeree may decide to use the mail, where such acceptance would be permissible in accordance with the offer. This lesson sets out the ramifications of use of the mail (as well as e-mail and facsimiles, which follow the same rule). The general attributes of offer and acceptance are covered in other lessons.

This lesson walks students through the use of Pennsylvania-specific: legal encyclopedias, forms, practice materials, treatises, and legal periodicals. From how to choose the right source, to how to use them, the student will learn the basics about how secondary sources can help their research needs.

This lesson reviews the key aspects of the Merger Rule, the Rule in Shelley's Case and the Doctrine of Worthier Title. These three rules transform future interests in certain types of conveyances and should be learned after one has mastered the classification of estates and future interests and before one studies the Rule Against Perpetuities.

This lesson is designed to assist the first year Property student in analyzing the various questions arising from one's attempting to enforce real covenants and equitable servitudes. It follows in the order of the analytical process developed in the lesson on creating covenants and addresses the question "What defenses might be available to one against whom another is attempting to enforce a real covenant, equitable servitude or restriction?"

This lesson is designed to assist the first year Property student in analyzing the various questions arising from one's attempting to enforce real covenants and equitable servitudes. It follows in the order of the analytical process developed in the lesson on creating covenants and addresses the question "Under what circumstances might one who is not the original promisor be liable for not performing the promise?"

This lesson is intended as an introduction to the use of the Restatements of the Law. In this lesson students will learn what the Restatements of the Law are and why one would use them for legal research, their major features, how to search them, and how to use them to find cases.