Law posters
LearnPosters has 100 free printable law posters, grouped into 7 topics: The legal system, Contract, Tort, Criminal law, Public & constitutional. The doctrines, tests and cases a law degree is built on. They are made for undergraduates, professionals and anyone revising the subject. No account and no watermark.
Contract, tort, crime and constitutional law, plus the reasoning skills that hold them together. Educational reference on general legal principles, not legal advice.
100 free printable posters · 7 topics · vector PDF
The legal system
Sources of law, courts and precedent.
Sources of Law
Where legal rules come from, and which prevails in a conflict.
Common Law & Civil Law
The two dominant legal traditions, and how they differ in practice.
Precedent
How a past decision binds a later court, and what part actually binds.
Court Structure
How courts are tiered, and what each level does.
Civil & Criminal Proceedings
Two systems with different parties, standards and outcomes.
Interpreting Statutes
How courts decide what legislation means.
Proof
Who must prove what, and how convincingly.
Legal Personality
Who and what the law recognises as a person.
Jurisdiction
Which court can hear a case, and which law applies.
Resolving Disputes Without Trial
The alternatives to litigation, and what each offers.
Access to Justice
The barriers between having a right and being able to enforce it.
The Legal Profession
The roles within legal practice, and what each does.
The Rule of Law
What the principle requires, beyond the existence of laws.
Legal Reasoning
How lawyers argue from rules and cases to conclusions.
Law & Morality
Where legal obligation and moral obligation diverge.
Contract
Formation, terms, breach and remedies.
Forming a Contract
The elements that turn an agreement into a binding one.
Offer & Acceptance
Distinguishing an offer from an invitation to treat.
Consideration
The requirement that each side gives something.
Types of Contract Term
How terms get into a contract, and what weight each carries.
Exclusion Clauses
Clauses limiting liability, and the hurdles they must clear.
Misrepresentation
False statements that induce a contract, and the remedies.
Breach & Remedies
What the law gives when a contract is broken.
When Performance Becomes Impossible
Frustration at common law, and force majeure by agreement.
Privity
Who can enforce a contract, and the exceptions.
Consumer Contracts
The extra protection consumers receive, and why.
Employment Contracts
What makes someone an employee, and why the label matters.
Drafting
Writing a contract that does not need a court to interpret it.
Mistake
When a shared or fundamental error undermines a contract.
Pressure & Influence
When consent is so compromised that the contract can be set aside.
Agency
One person contracting on another's behalf.
Tort
Negligence, duty and the standard of care.
What Tort Law Does
Civil wrongs outside contract, and the interests they protect.
Negligence
The four elements a claimant must establish.
Duty of Care
When the law recognises a duty between two parties.
The Standard of Care
What the reasonable person is expected to do.
Causation
Linking the breach to the harm, factually and legally.
Defences
The answers available to a defendant in negligence.
Vicarious Liability
When one party is liable for another's wrongdoing.
Occupiers' Liability
The duty owed by those in control of premises.
Nuisance
Unreasonable interference with the use of land.
Defamation
Protecting reputation, and the defences that protect speech.
Product Liability
Liability for defective products, in negligence and under statute.
Damages
How compensation is calculated for personal injury and loss.
Psychiatric Injury
Why claims for psychological harm face additional restrictions.
Professional Negligence
The standard applied to those holding themselves out as skilled.
Economic Torts
Wrongs that cause financial loss without physical harm.
Criminal law
Actus reus, mens rea and the main offences.
The Elements of an Offence
The conduct element and the mental element.
States of Mind
The mental states the criminal law distinguishes.
Homicide
How unlawful killings are graded.
Offences Against the Person
The ladder of assault offences, by seriousness.
Property Offences
Theft, fraud and related offences, and what distinguishes them.
Defences
The general defences, and what each requires.
Inchoate Offences
Liability for crimes not completed.
Parties to an Offence
Liability for those who assist rather than commit.
Criminal Procedure
The stages from investigation to sentence.
Sentencing
What sentencing is trying to achieve, and how it is decided.
Evidence
What a court can consider, and what it must exclude.
Miscarriages of Justice
The recurring causes of wrongful conviction.
Strict Liability
Offences requiring no proof of a guilty mind.
Corporate Liability
How an organisation can commit a criminal offence.
Victims & Witnesses
The position of those who are not parties to the prosecution.
Public & constitutional
State power, rights and judicial review.
Separation of Powers
The three branches, and why they are kept apart.
Constitutions
What a constitution does, codified or not.
Judicial Review
Courts reviewing the lawfulness of public decisions.
Rights Frameworks
How protected rights are structured and limited.
Proportionality
The structured test for whether a rights limitation is justified.
Delegated Powers
Why legislatures delegate, and how delegation is controlled.
Dividing Power Territorially
How power is split between central and regional government.
Administrative Justice
How decisions about individuals by public bodies are challenged.
Police & State Powers
Coercive powers and the safeguards attached to them.
Freedom of Expression
The scope of the right, and where limits are commonly drawn.
Equality & Discrimination
The structure of discrimination law.
Elections
How votes become seats, and what each system rewards.
Emergency Powers
Expanded state power in a crisis, and the safeguards on it.
Privacy & Data Protection
The interest protected, and the framework around personal data.
Property & equity
Land, trusts and equitable principles.
Kinds of Property
The categories the law recognises, and why they are treated differently.
Ownership & Possession
Two different things that are commonly conflated.
Interests in Land
The rights a person can hold over land they do not own.
Leases
What makes a lease, and how it differs from a licence.
Trusts
Splitting legal ownership from beneficial ownership.
Trustee Duties
The obligations that come with holding property for another.
Equitable Remedies
Remedies developed in equity, and their discretionary nature.
Co-ownership
How two or more people own property together.
Security Over Property
How a lender takes rights over property to secure a debt.
IP Rights Compared
The main rights, what each protects, and for how long.
Registration of Title
Why land registration exists and what it guarantees.
Wills & Succession
How property passes on death.
Landlord & Tenant
The obligations running each way in a tenancy.
Legal skills
Case reading, citation and legal writing.
Reading a Case
Extracting what matters from a judgment efficiently.
Citation
Why citation format matters, and what each element does.
Legal Research
Finding the law, and confirming it is still good.
Legal Writing
Writing that a busy reader can act on.
Structuring an Answer
The standard structure for a legal problem question.
Client Interviewing
Getting the facts you need, including the ones they did not think mattered.
Negotiation
Negotiating for a client without giving away the case.
Professional Ethics
The duties that constrain what a lawyer may do for a client.
Advocacy
Presenting an argument to a court.
Reading Legislation
Working through a statutory provision accurately.
Analysing a Problem
Turning a messy set of facts into legal issues.
Drafting Legal Documents
Producing documents that do the job without ambiguity.
Handling Evidence
Organising and assessing material for a case.
Questions about the Law posters
- What is the Law section of LearnPosters?
- The doctrines, tests and cases a law degree is built on. Contract, tort, crime and constitutional law, plus the reasoning skills that hold them together. Educational reference on general legal principles, not legal advice.
- What topics do the Law posters cover?
- 100 posters across 7 topics. The legal system — Sources of law, courts and precedent. Contract — Formation, terms, breach and remedies. Tort — Negligence, duty and the standard of care. Criminal law — Actus reus, mens rea and the main offences. Public & constitutional — State power, rights and judicial review. Property & equity — Land, trusts and equitable principles. Legal skills — Case reading, citation and legal writing.
- Who are the Law posters for?
- The law charts are pitched at undergraduates and professionals — the frameworks and equations a course keeps returning to. Nothing here is tied to a school year, so a curious beginner and someone revising the same material for an exam are looking at the same law chart.
- Which Law poster should I print first?
- Sources of Law, Common Law & Civil Law and Precedent are the ones people reach for first — they are the references the rest of the law set assumes you already have on the wall.Sources of LawCommon Law & Civil LawPrecedent
- Are the Law posters free to print?
- Yes — all 100 of them. Each law poster is a free vector PDF that needs no account, prints on US Letter or A4, and enlarges to A1 without softening. Home, classroom, library and tutoring use are all covered by the licence.Read the licence
Where the law charts come from
These posters summarise. When you need the full account — or the normative text a chart is compressing — start here.
- Legal Information Institute — Cornell Law School. Free primary sources — statutes, cases and the definitions used here.
- Common law — Wikipedia. How the doctrines on these charts differ between jurisdictions.