The purpose of the definitions assignment is to move students beyond mere familiarity with legal terminology, to understanding what the terms mean.

Description

The purpose of the definitions assignment is to move students beyond mere familiarity with legal terminology, to understanding what the terms mean. There are two parts to the assignment:

(1) Students must give a definition or rule of law for each term. The definition need not be in a student’s own words. Any reliable legal source may be used, such as Black’s Law Dictionary, Clancey’s Outlaw, commercial law outlines, etc. so long as the definition is correct, concise, and includes all necessary elements. We do not recommend Wikipedia, websites containing other law students’ work, or similar sources, as the information may not be accurate.

(2) In their own words students must provide either 1) a short hypothetical which shows understanding of the term by illustrating or providing an example of its usage, or 2) a further explanation of detailed information concerning the term. It is not sufficient to simply restate the rule provided in part one in one’s own words — an illustration or additional information that demonstrates an understanding of the term or rule must be included.