Reading comprehension of legal texts
LUG-105 English and Legal Language, Unit III: Reading comprehension, preferably of legal texts. · LLB · 60 min
How to read a passage, a statute, a judgment and a contract so that nothing is missed: skimming, scanning and close reading; the three levels of comprehension; the structure of the texts a lawyer reads every day; and the method for answering passage questions (locate, paraphrase, infer, vocabulary in context, title). The three comprehension passages the papers have set (the Buddha, air pollution, legal systems) are worked in full. This lecture covers topics 1 and 2 of the unit (reading comprehension, comprehension of legal texts).
Objectives
- Explain what reading comprehension is and its three levels (literal, inferential, critical).
- Use skimming, scanning and close reading for the right purpose on a statute, a judgment and an examination passage.
- Describe the structure of a section, a judgment and a contract and read each part correctly.
- Answer comprehension questions in complete sentences, in your own words, using only the passage.
- List the skills needed to understand legal texts and explain how reading them improves professional skill.
Slides
- What reading comprehension is, and why law is a reading profession
- Three ways of reading: skimming, scanning, close reading
- Reading a statute: the anatomy of a section
- Reading a judgment: from cause title to order
- Reading a contract and a pleading
- Answering passage questions: the method
- Worked passage 1: the Buddha (2017-18, Q.C1)
- Worked passage 2: air pollution and intelligence (2019-20, Q.C2)
- Worked passage 3: legal systems, solicitors and barristers (2022-23, Q.4a)
- Skills for understanding legal texts, and what reading gives back
- How the examiner asks it
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