How to Write Better Essays

The notes

1 Outline the main types of law – common law – judicial precedent

• statute law – conventions

2 Refusal justified when:

(a) Government has no popular legitimacy – lacks majority

support – authoritarian governments

e.g. South Africa/apartheid

(b) Government is legitimate, but the majority tyrannises a

minority

e.g. Germany – Nazi Government – 1935 Nuremberg

Laws

e.g. USA – 1960s Civil Rights – segregation – M. L.

King

(c) Government extends its powers too far – restricting the

liberties of the individual unnecessarily.

Editing and Ordering your Material 153

Practice exercise 12

Editing and ordering your material

Question

Are there any circumstances where the individual is justified in

refusing to obey a law?

Interpret the question above as you did in the first stage: write a state-

ment outlining as fully as you can the meaning and implications of the

question. For this exercise you don’t need to brainstorm the question as

you are given, below, a set of notes to edit and then order into a plan

for the essay; but your interpretation should give you a clear idea of what

you expect to see as relevant to the question.

Once you’ve done this, go through the notes below, deciding what

you think is relevant and what needs to be cut. Then, order what’s left into

a plan in linear-note form, indicating how you would tackle this essay.

After you’ve completed it, compare your plan with the one given below.

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