Constituents of the Model
Having laid out the model it is now necessary to explain the constituents and
the role that they play in litigation.
Law: Elements
Like most
other legal rules, a cause of action is framed as a conditional
statement – when certain types of facts occur (as designated by the elements),
consequences apply to the parties involved. These consequences are of
course the remedies that the court provides to a successful plaintiff. In the
table they are labelled Consequences.
To obtain the legal consequences
provided by a cause of action a plaintiff must establish each and every element
of the legal rule that
constitutes the cause of action. A plaintiff establishes an
element by proving the type of fact that the element designates.
In the model, elements of the rule are labelled Element 1, Element 2, and
Element n, the list being Elements 1-n. To obtain the Consequences, therefore,
the plaintiff
must satisfy Elements 1-n. If a plaintiff fails to satisfy all of the
elements, even failing with
just one element, the law does not apply, so
the
plaintiff does not obtain a remedy.
Law: Subelements
Elements can be divided into various levels of subelements as the law creating
the cause of action requires. These levels create a hierarchy. To illustrate this,
let us take Element 2 as an example, and see how it could divide into
subelements. If Element 2 was divided into n subelements, the table above
could be expanded to accommodate this, as the following excerpt
demonstrates:
Element 2
Fact 2
Evidence 2
Element 2.1
Fact 2.1
Evidence 2.1
Element 2.2
Fact 2.2
Evidence 2.2
Element 2.n
Fact 2.n
Evidence 2.n
Figure 4.9 Subelements
Subelements of Element 2 are
labelled Element 2.1, Element 2.2 and Element
2.n, constituting the range Elements 2.1-2.n. Moreover, further division is
possible (if the legal rule so requires it) because a subelement at any level can
always be further subdivided, so that the division and subdivision
create
a
more elaborate hierarchy. For example, Element 2.3 might divide into Elements
2.3.1-2.3.n. This process of subdividing elements continues until the law
constituting the cause of action is fully
and faithfully
represented in the
hierarchy.
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