Memorise case laws

by ca.katariyaOctober 27, 20200 comment

Memorise case laws effectively after applying these tips and tricks. Don’t skip reading it till the last line.

Hello everyone,

I’m Sampada. A Chartered Accountant by profession and an artist, writer and a blogger by passion.

I have had a lot of people asking me about how to remember Case Laws for DT and How to remember Section Nos and Penalties for Law.

Now if your exams are coming and you still haven’t gotten around to memorising Case Laws or are finding it difficult, I can help give you some pointers. Please, please don’t think of skipping it just because you have less no. of days left for your exams. If my calculations aren’t wrong you still have 30 days for your exams. (28 to be exact, if you are planning 2 days for the first paper) That is more than enough time to start remembering Case Laws and Section Nos.

I’ll just talk about how to Memorise Case Laws in this post.

I know Case Laws are a little difficult to memorise or learn especially considering just how many there are!

First try to understand the structure of the Case Law. Every Case is divided into three parts:

1. What was the matter? Or what was the issue? – That will generally be the question in your exam i.e the case study

2. What did the Court Observe? – Now, in this part there will be quoting of the relevant section no. and what does that particular section say i.e. the provision

3. What was the Conclusion? – So, what conclusion did the court arrive at, keeping in mind the relevant Section and its provisions?

So how to go about memorizing them?

Pick up just 5 Case Laws every day. That’s it. Just 5

POINTERS to Memorise case Laws:

Firstly, what not to remember?

o Section Nos. In fact, forget about them. It is better NOT to quote them rather than to quote the wrong ones. You already have enough to memorise as it is!

o Also, forget about whether it was ITAT, HC or SC. You’ll just end up being all confused.

o Also don’t try to remember the year of the case.

(If you can remember them, good. But if you can’t don’t worry too much)

Now, what to remember?

o The name of the Assessee

o The Conclusion

• Most of the Case Laws that you will read are very interesting, mostly like a story.

So, try to remember it as how you would remember a story. Firstly, what’s the story about. Secondly, what happens in the story and lastly, how did the story end or conclude?

• Understand, you don’t have to Memorise Case Laws word for word. Also, you don’t have to remember all the parts of the Case.

• Try to write the Court’s Observation in your own words. It need not be a long paragraph. Even 4-5 lines containing the observation will do. These are CA exams, so it’s always Quality over Quantity!!

• Even your conclusion can be as small as 2-3 lines. As long as what you are writing is correct, the quantity does not matter.

• Don’t try to write the Case Laws when you are learning them. Just read the Issue, understand the Observation as much as you can and the Conclusion.

• Then, try to speak about the case, in any language you want. Like as if you are talking to a friend about the case, explaining to them what had happened. So, if you prefer Hindi, try to talk about the case in Hindi, like, ‘yeh bande ne aisa aisa kia, toh AO ne claim reject kia. Fir na Court ne bola ki Income Tax k provisions k hisaab se yeh aisa hona chahiye aur fir Court ne yeh aisa aisa conclusion diya.’

• After you are comfortable with the first Case Law in your language and have understood it, move on to the next one. Remember you are doing just 5 every day.

• After you are done with all the 5, then on the next day pick up 5 new Case Laws and revise the old 5

• On the 3rd day. It will be 5 new Case Laws and revision of 10 Old Case Laws.

• Allot at least 45 minutes for the case laws. (It might not even take that long). Revision of the old ones won’t take much time. Only remembering the new ones will do.