I Became a Law School Genius

Chapter 12

『 Translator – Divinity 』

Even though it was a study camp, what we were doing was the same as usual.

“Agency isn’t difficult, Ha-ru. In the end, you just need to look at these things.”

“Hmm…”

“Whether the agent has the authority to perform that act or not. If not, whether it falls under apparent authority or not. If so, whether it’s an abuse of agency or not.”

“…I already have a headache.”

With Han Seol’s explanation to Lee Ha-ru in the background, I continued with my own work.

‘What I need to invest my time in now is the multiple-choice section.’

There was no need to separately study the essay questions.

I had already practiced the process of finding issues and constructing answers from the questions countless times.

What I had lost, what I lacked now, wasn’t technique, but material.

Even if I found the issue, it was all for nothing if I couldn’t remember the corresponding precedent.

In the end, it meant I had to memorize individual pieces of knowledge, and there was nothing better than studying multiple-choice questions to cram them into my eyes and brain.

‘How far did I get with the past exams… I think I was also at agency.’

I opened the past exam questions book and stared at it.

[Question]

‘A’ entered into a sales contract with ‘C’ as an agent of ‘B’, but ‘A’ did not have the authority to sell. Which of the following statements about the legal relationship in this case is incorrect?

① In determining whether ‘A’s act of agency falls under apparent authority exceeding their authority, the existence of justifiable grounds should be judged based on the time of ‘A’s act of agency.

② If ‘A’ is the spouse of ‘B’, apparent authority exceeding their authority can be established with the authority of daily household agency as the basic authority.

③ In a lawsuit filed by ‘C’ against ‘B’ for the performance of the sales contract, if ‘C’ claims that ‘A’s act falls under authorized agency, that claim cannot be considered to include the claim that ‘A’s act falls under apparent authority.

④ If ‘A’ is a sub-agent of ‘B’, ‘A’s act of agency cannot fall under apparent authority exceeding their authority.

⑤ Even if ‘A’s act of agency is recognized as apparent authority after the expiration of their authority, apparent authority exceeding their authority can still be established.

‘It’s a typical question of determining whether you know the precedent or not by marking O or X.’

It was a type of question where the wording of the precedent was directly copied and pasted into the options.

This kind of question doesn’t require high-level problem-solving, like recalling legal principles or checking understanding.

Since they were all frequently appearing precedents, the answer should come to mind reflexively as soon as you see it.

‘The answer is number 4. Because the sub-agent’s authority also becomes the basic authority under Article 126.’

I nodded with satisfaction as I checked the answer.

My skills had definitely improved compared to the beginning when I first possessed this body.

If it were the past, I would have been struggling to recall the information, thinking, “Oh, this…”

Of course, if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to solve the problems in time.

It was still only the beginning of the vast Civil Law, but it felt good to regain even a fragment of my former glory.

With renewed motivation, I flipped through the pages vigorously.

‘This is number 1. An agent who is only granted the authority to conclude a contract does not have the authority to extend the payment deadline, but an agent who is granted general authority can.’

‘This is number 5. Unauthorized agency is strict liability.’

‘This is number 2.’

‘This is…’

I could feel the empty spaces in my legal framework being steadily filled with knowledge.

Ah, this is enjoyable.

How long have I dreamed of this kind of life?

I was immersed in solving problems for a long time.

When I came to my senses, it was already late at night, and dawn had arrived.

“Knock, knock.”

I lifted my head at the feeling of someone tapping my shoulder.

It was Lee Ha-ru.

“What’s wrong?”

“Can you explain this to me?”

She was shaking the question paper with her eyes half-closed.

“Where’s Han Seol?”

“Unnie just fell asleep.”

I looked back and saw Han Seol sleeping soundly, her head on the desk.

Unlike me, who had been studying alone, or Lee Ha-ru, who had just been sitting and listening, Han Seol had been diligently teaching her since the afternoon, so it was understandable that she was exhausted.

Should I let her sleep for a bit?

Instead of waking Han Seol up, I brought a blanket and covered her shoulders with it.

“Huh. What’s with the flirting?”

“Stop talking nonsense and let’s see the question.”

Since Han Seol was down, I had no choice but to fill in.

I picked up the question Lee Ha-ru brought.

[Question 3.]

– ‘A’ lent 20 million won to ‘B’ on March 1, 2000, and ‘B’ promised to repay the money by June 1, 2000 (assume there is no interest).
However, when the promised date of June 1, 2000, arrived, ‘B’ intentionally started avoiding ‘A’ by not answering calls or moving from place to place.

“2010.8.28. ‘A’, who finally found ‘B’ hiding in a relative’s house, demanded the return of the borrowed money, and ‘B’ argued that he was not obligated to repay the money because the statute of limitations had expired on ‘A’s claim.

Can ‘A’ recover the 20 million won? (15 points)”

“What? We’re already at the statute of limitations?”

“Seol unnie is a great explainer.”

Covering the statute of limitations meant we had reached the end of the quiz’s scope.

Of course, even if she had gone through it once, it was impossible to write a proper essay answer, which would be at least ten lines long, so from now on, we needed to practice repeatedly.

Still, it was true that she was fast.

Whether it was because Han Seol was a good teacher or Lee Ha-ru was quick-witted. Actually, it was likely both.

“So how do we solve this?”

I organized my thoughts on how to explain it.

What is the statute of limitations?

It’s a rule that even if someone has a certain right, they lose that right if they don’t exercise it within a certain period.

It’s like legal rights have an expiration date.

It was a topic that could become infinitely complex if the question was designed to be difficult or focused on trivial details, but fortunately, this question wasn’t that tricky.

“What’s the first thing you should do when writing an answer to this question?”

“What is it?”

“It’s to check how many points it’s worth.”

In essay exams, the point value of a question is proportional to the length of the answer.

This is because the number of issues that serve as criteria for grading changes.

“Generally, a 10-point question requires one issue. 15-20 points means two issues. 30 points or more can be three or more.”

Therefore, even with the same question, if the point value is different, the answer should be written differently.

For example, in this question, the wicked debtor ‘B’, who ran away to avoid paying back the money, is claiming that his debt has disappeared due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

In this case, the structure of the answer is largely divided into two parts.

One is to examine whether the statute of limitations on ‘B’s debt has actually expired.

The other is to see if there’s any way to punish this wicked debtor.

Since it’s a 15-point question, we just need to create separate headings for the two most important issues in each part and describe them.

First, there are three requirements for the statute of limitations under the Civil Act:

1. It must be a right subject to the statute of limitations.
2. The right holder must not exercise the right even though they can.
3. Such a state must continue for a certain period.

“‘A’s right is a claim for a loan, so according to Article 162, Paragraph 1, it’s subject to a 10-year statute of limitations. Requirement 1, clear. The promised repayment date was June 1, 2000, so as of August 28, 2010, 10 years have already passed, right? Unless there are other special circumstances, requirement 3 is also clear.”

If it were a 30-point question, requirements 1 and 3 would each need their own headings and be examined in detail.

But since this question is worth 15 points, we can simply state the grounds for the satisfied requirements and move on.

The problem is requirement 2.

‘A’ didn’t intentionally avoid exercising his right.

It was just that the wicked debtor ‘B’ didn’t answer his calls and ran away, so there was no way to collect the money.

Whether this can be considered ‘not exercising the right even though they can’ seems debatable.

And this is the core issue that needs its own heading.

“The precedent interprets ‘being able to exercise the right’ as not having ‘legal obstacles’, not ‘factual obstacles’. Therefore, even if the creditor simply didn’t know about the existence of the right or couldn’t exercise it due to the debtor’s absence, the statute of limitations still progresses.”

In other words, the fact that ‘B’ was running away and his whereabouts were unknown is only a factual obstacle.

So it’s irrelevant to the completion of the statute of limitations.

Therefore, requirement 2 is also satisfied, and in the end, it’s true that the statute of limitations has expired on ‘A’s right.

“But is this the end? No. If this is it, ‘B’ is getting away too easily.”

If the judgment were like this, all debtors would borrow a lot of money and then avoid creditors until the statute of limitations expired.

We can’t let that happen.

“That’s why the precedent brings in the ‘principle of good faith’. If the debtor makes it impossible or extremely difficult for the creditor to exercise their right, leading to the completion of the statute of limitations, then it’s against the principle of good faith or an abuse of rights for the debtor to claim the completion of the statute of limitations, and it cannot be allowed.”

The principle of good faith is, literally, a basic principle of civil law that says people should keep faith with each other and diligently fulfill their obligations in social life.

In short, it means that even someone who schemes to avoid paying back money won’t be protected.

And this is the second issue.

We just need to create a separate heading for the principle of good faith, describe the precedent’s reasoning, and then give the conclusion.

“Conclusion. ‘B’s argument is unjust under the principle of good faith and cannot be allowed, so ‘A’ can claim the return of the loan from ‘B’.”

It wasn’t a difficult question either.

It’s a problem that can be easily solved if you know the basic requirements for the statute of limitations and two precedents.

However, Lee Ha-ru seemed to be bothered by something and was frowning.

“Is there something you don’t understand?”

“It’s not that I don’t understand… I don’t like it.”

“What don’t you like?”

“The principle of good faith. What is that anyway?”

Lee Ha-ru pouted her lips.

“I understand the structure of examining the requirements and reaching a conclusion when solving Civil Law problems. It’s kind of similar to the logic of coding. But then what’s the point if you can just overturn everything with some weird principle at the end?”

Her voice was filled with dissatisfaction.

“How is that different from a judge making arbitrary decisions?”

I could see how she might feel that way.

It wasn’t just Lee Ha-ru.

Students who were fundamentally science-oriented often experienced significant confusion and skepticism when faced with this aspect of law.

People often describe law as ‘mathematics in a foreign language’.

But from the perspective of those from science backgrounds, it was nothing short of a deceptive title.

They act all logical, considering this and that to develop their arguments, and then with a single phrase, ‘That’s not fair,’ they overturn all the previous reasoning.

If that’s possible, why bother studying this vast legal system as if memorizing it?

“Anyway, the humanities guys’ studies lack depth, depth.”

“Ahem. You have a long tongue for someone who entered the humanities guys’ den of their own free will.”

“But, ouch!”

Lee Ha-ru, who received a flick on the forehead from me as a price for her impertinent remark, made a tearful face.

I chuckled and continued,

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong. Law is definitely different from natural sciences or mathematics. It’s far from being composed of perfect logic or objective truth.”

“Then why?”

“Because law is an invention created by humans to save humans.”

“…Save humans?”

I nodded.

“I could explain it now… but someday you’ll realize its meaning yourself.”

“Be honest. Are you just making this up because you have nothing to say?”

“This kid?”

Lee Ha-ru glared at me suspiciously and then returned to her seat with the question paper.

She sat still, deep in thought, then shook her head and started solving the problem again.

“Save humans…”

I thought I heard her mumble.

‘Yes. This is enough for now.’

She would manage to do the necessary studying for now, driven by promise and necessity.

Lee Ha-ru was that kind of person, and I had already reduced the amount she needed to study through the cheat sheet.

There was no need to force her to understand or persuade her.

Soon, she would blossom with her talent and find her own path with all her heart.

But to slightly hasten that time… I would need to give her a little push.

However, today was not that day.

I watched Lee Ha-ru groaning for a while, then turned my head back to my question collection.

***

“The quiz scores are out. The notice is up, so check it individually.”

The overnight study camp went smoothly.

Han Seol, after waking up, drank the cocoa I made for her and taught Lee Ha-ru again until morning.

From Saturday afternoon, when we had a basic framework in place, we all reviewed my question collection over and over again.

After repeatedly reviewing until the paper wore out, we reached a point where we could see the question and the answer would just pop up.

On Monday morning, as we crawled to the lecture hall,

We became convinced that our hard work had not been in vain.

‘It’s easy. Super easy.’

As expected, all the questions Professor Park Soo-geun had set were in my collection.

He had changed the order of the options or slightly altered some numbers, but that couldn’t fool us after studying with bloodshot eyes.

I subtly glanced at Lee Ha-ru and Han Seol, and as expected, they were flipping through the exam papers much faster than the other students.

They were well-trained.

“Hey, did you do well on the quiz?”

“No, I messed up. Why are there so many questions I’ve never seen before?”

The conversations I heard around me were quite welcome.

Of course, it was natural for them to be seeing the questions for the first time.

Compared to the actual bar exam, mock exams were relatively more disorganized and often included issues that scholar-turned-professors valued.

It meant there were many questions that prospective students wouldn’t have seen before.

“They said they’re grading this by group too, right? Which group will be first?”

“Definitely Group 6, isn’t it? Shin Seo-joon is in that group.”

“Right. The other kids in his group were all in the top 20 in the first evaluation. The balance is broken, really.”

“What about Group 10? Han Seol and that guy, what’s his name? The one who answered well last time.”

“Hey, there’s no way. Don’t you know he was ranked 139th in the first exam? Being good at presentations and being good at studying are different things.”

“Right. Besides, one of them didn’t even come to class. They’ll be lucky if they even get to the middle, let alone first place.”

“Ah, is that so? Poor Han Seol…”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Who was calling who pitiful?

‘Just you wait and see, guys.’

As soon as the class ended, I confidently headed towards the notice board to check our group’s score.