The ledger
Progress
What Socratess keeps between tutorials. The ladder moves on what happens in the hour, not on marks.
Standing
| student | Mateas |
|---|---|
| level | 1 — first weeks of an undergraduate degree |
| term | Michaelmas, Lesson 2 (terminology fixed 30 August 2026, second revision same |
| tutorials sat | 1 |
| promotion rule | on observed behaviour in the hour — never on marks, never on time. |
What moves you up a level
- ☑stated a ratio correctly and unprompted — 1st occasion: 13 Sept 2026, S4/S9 (narrow rule identified as the ratio unasked; stated whole from notes, declared). Needs a second consecutive occasion.
- ☐distinguished a case on its facts without being told to — not yet: 13 Sept clear-glass distinction was on a hypothetical the tutor set.
- ☑said "I don't know" instead of fogging, at least once — 1st occasion: 13 Sept 2026, S6 (clear-glass hypothetical; said it, then reasoned). Needs a second consecutive occasion.
The term ahead
- 1.Case law technique — the ratio decidendi
- 2.Precedent — bindingness and departure (the 1966 Practice Statement, London Tramways)
- 3.Statutory interpretation
- 4.Jurisprudence begins: Austin's command theory and Hart's critique (the withdrawn 15 August set is reused here)
- 5–8.Hart–Fuller; natural law; onward as the tutorials dictate.
Michaelmas: legal method first, then jurisprudence — re-sequenced 15 August 2026 on his objection (correct) that legal philosophy cold in week 1 outruns a first-year; at Oxford the Jurisprudence paper is a Finals subject. He reports private reading in the area (Austin, Hart), so theory enters at week 4 rather than later. The arc is a guide, not a rail — each week's topic still follows from where the last tutorial broke down:
The record
| Date | Topic | Level mark | Finals mark | Wound that recurred |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-23 | Case law technique — the ratio decidendi | 59 | n/a at L1 (see report) | Fog is not depth ("sentiment") |
| 2026-08-30 | Precedent — bindingness and departure | — | — | No essay by deadline (worked 05:00–21:00 all weekend); tutorial forfeited. Set revived same day as the first fortnight cycle: first debate 6 Sept, essay 12 Sept 21:00, final hour 13 Sept |
| 2026-09-13 | Donoghue revision, full, unmarked — Lesson 1 closed | — | — | Broke on bound (five answers, none withdrawn; theory/reality split; open texture named at S2, never applied) — a Level 3 rung, correct place to break. Level 1 met on both rules and the dissent. "Reid confirms precedent is a myth" — cites-from-memory. Report reports/2026-09-13-donoghue-revision.md |
| 2026-09-12 | Donoghue revision, short, unmarked | — | — | Could not state the neighbour principle when asked four ways ("implicit", "the citizen", "the understanding of that speech"). Refused "I don't know" and was right on the sentiment sentence — not fog. Transcript transcripts/2026-09-12-donoghue-revision-short.md. Full debate 13 Sept |
What Socratess himself holds
Stated positions, so there is something to disagree with to his face.
- ·Ratio is rule-based, not fact-based — Cross over Goodhart.
- ·Constructive reinterpretation by later courts is real but bounded: the existence of overruling proves something was fixed.
- ·Rule-scepticism is a disappointed absolutism.
Points conceded to you
| Date | Point conceded |
|---|---|
| 2026-09-13 | "Moral availability" debt cancelled: said in the 23 Aug hour, no transcript kept; the tutor could not reproduce the context and does not hold him to a phrase the tutor did not record. |