February 9, 2012

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 2/9, I distributed two handouts: the graded case brief assignment for next Thursday (below) and the Maine statute regarding use of force in defense of premises. We finished out discussion of Katko v. Briney, including the views of the dissenting Justice. We then began looking at the Maine statute. We will finish looking at the requirements of that statute (making your demand before you shoot) on Tuesday. We will also take up the previously assigned Suggs v. Norris on Tuesday. The assignment for Tuesday February 14 is to review Suggs, and to begin work on your Degenhardt case brief.

Assignment due Thursday, February 16, 2012
The assignment (graded) is to do a Case Brief of the case of Degenhardt v. EWE Limited Partnership, 2011 ME 23, 13 A3d. 790. The case can be found on the website of the Maine Supreme Court.

To access the case, go to
http://www.courts.state.me.us/opinions/supreme/index.html

--scroll down to “2011 Opinions”

--select 2011 ME 23 Degenhardt v. EWE Limited Partnership (2/24/2011)

Brief all of the issues that you determine that the Court ruled on.

Follow the format from the Sample Briefs that I’ve distributed. Note especially that the Facts, Issues, and Holding are copied and pasted. Everything that you put into the Fact section should appear exactly in your Issue and Holding sections as well. Your Issue and Holding sections should be identical to each other, except that the issue is a question, and the Holding is the answer to that question. Your briefs will be evaluated on the format, as well as the specific content.

Please make two copies of your brief, one to hand in at the beginning of class, and the other for you to have during class for our discussion.

You may e-mail me if you have questions about the brief. The more time that I have to answer your questions, the more likely it is that I can be helpful.

If you cannot be in class on Thursday 2/16, you should still e-mail me your brief by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the brief. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you. (Generally, I do not want to accept assignments after we have discussed them in class). See the Syllabus for the class rules regarding late papers. Remember to work by yourselves; do not collaborate.

IMPORTANT: If you e-mail your brief to me, I will reply to confirm that I have received your assignment. If I do not reply, then I have not received your assignment.


POS 359--The Current Supreme Court Term
In class today, Thursday 2/9, we finished our discussion of U.S. v. Jones. On Tuesday 2/14 I will resume going over the cases that are candidates for our next paper, so this should be the last day for a while without any homework for you to do.