Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Plugging away......

Bar study is really intersting, because you have to be able to condense 3000 points of law into a short, short outline.  For instance, take criminal law.  Burglary is the breaking and entering of the dwelling place of another at night with the intent to commit a felony within.  [Thanks to Professor Appleman, I know this one in and out].  So my outline looks like this:  Burglaray = Breaking + Entering + dwelling place of another + night + intent to commit felony.

Now that is not good enough to know...because you have to know how each of those "elements" work.  Breaking does not mean force....it simply means to open a door, window, or create another opening.

Entering means that the person must place his body, some part of his body, or an instrument into the dwelling.

Dwelling is the residence [not business] of a person.

At common law, burglary only occurs at night.

Must have an intent at the time of entering to commit a felony [meaning stealing].  The person does not actually have to take a thing..... just have the intent.

So for this one point of law, there are tons of rules you have to know.  And break down into a sentence.  Tough challenge!

2 comments:

  1. Interesting.. Keep the cool post. :)

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  2. Oh, one correction, it could be the intention of committing ANY felony, not just stealing. Though that is the obvious one. But it could be with the intent to kill someone, but alas, they are not home. Doesn't matter that they were not there..... The perpetrator had an intent to commit a felony [murder].

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