The culture of mnemosyne: open‐book assessment and the theory and practice of legal education

Abstract

The concept of open-book assessment is inherently controversial, not least because it contradicts a basic condition of examinations, one so basic to the event that we rarely question it: the single confrontation of examinee with exam question, the element of isolated and unaided struggle—Jacob wrestling with the mysterious Other. Surely it is cheating to allow texts into an exam-hall? What is the point of the exercise then?