Keith Mack
The process of reporting a case in law involves several stages, from understanding the legal framework to presenting arguments and reaching a resolution. When researching a case, individuals may encounter multiple parallel citations due to different publishing stages and report formats. The most authoritative version, typically an authorised law report, should be cited. This report will contain a written judgment by the judge, outlining the reasons for their decision. This judgment may be published in a commercial law report series, depending on editorial interest and the case's importance. The report's structure includes sections such as the question presented, which identifies relevant laws, and the statement of facts, detailing the conflict. The discussion part presents legal arguments and their alignment with the law, leading to a conclusion that briefly states the case's outcome.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Judgment | Unreported or Reported |
| Reported Judgment | Published in a law report series |
| Unreported Judgment | Published online on a court website or legal information website |
| Law Report Series | Commercial publisher's law report series |
| Commercial Publisher's Law Report Series | Contain summaries about the facts of the case and the principles of the law decided in the judgment |
| Law Report | Authorised or Non-authorised |
| Citing Cases | Reference the most authoritative version |
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What You'll Learn
Case law reporters
Unofficial reporters are published by commercial publishers such as West, Lexis, and BNA. They reproduce the reported cases within a given jurisdiction but are not government-approved. Unofficial reporters may include editorial enhancements such as headnotes, which are brief summaries of specific points of law decided in a case. Headnotes are not considered legal authority and should never be cited.
Cases can be reported in multiple law reports, but there is a preferred version hierarchy, with authorised law reports at the top. When researching a case, there may be multiple 'parallel citations' for the judgment because the judgment can go through a series of publishing stages. The most authoritative version of the case should be cited.
Law reports were traditionally published in printed volumes containing the text of judgments of various courts and tribunals. Now, law reports are available online through subscription databases. Editors write summaries about the facts of the cases and the principles of the law decided in the judgment.
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Official and unofficial reports
Official law reports are designated by governments to provide an authoritative, consistent, and authentic statement of a jurisdiction's primary law. Official case law publishing may be carried out by a government agency or a commercial entity. Official law reports are also referred to as authorised reports, as is the case in Australia and New Zealand. Official law reports are considered the most authoritative reports and contain a summary of the argument. The Official Law Reports: Appeal Cases (AC), Queen's Bench (QB), Family (Fam), Chancery (Ch), and earlier series published by the ICLR are considered the most authoritative reports since 1865.
Unofficial law reports, on the other hand, are not officially sanctioned and are published as a commercial enterprise. They are also referred to as unauthorised reports, as in Australia and New Zealand. Unofficially published court opinions are often published before official opinions, so lawyers and law journals must cite the unofficial report until the case is officially published. The West Publishing Company's National Reporter System (NRS) is the dominant unofficial reporter system in the U.S., with 21 states discontinuing their official reporters in favour of NRS. Unofficial reports usually provide helpful research aids, such as summaries and indexes, to maintain a competitive advantage over official reports.
A judgment can be classified as an unreported judgment or a law report. An unreported judgment is a written judgment that has not been published in a law report. Most unreported judgments are made available online on court websites, other legal information websites, or subscription databases. Unreported judgments can be cited if there is no alternative law report version available, but if a case is subsequently reported in a law report series, that version must be referenced. Law reports were traditionally published in printed volumes but are now available online through subscription databases.
Cases can be reported in multiple law reports, and there is a preferred version hierarchy with authorised law reports at the top. The most authoritative version of a case should be cited, and the Official Law Reports are considered the fullest and most authoritative reports.
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How to write a case brief
A case brief is a written summary of a case, which is a valuable tool for students, lawyers, and professors alike. It is a way to encapsulate and analyse the key elements of a case and is often used as a reference for class participation and exam preparation.
To write a case brief, start by selecting a useful case brief format. While there is no one "proper" format, every brief should include the following information:
- Caption: Begin with the case name, the court that decided it, the year, and the page number in the casebook.
- Procedural History: Outline the type of legal action and how the case was decided by the trial court and lower appellate court (if applicable).
- Case Facts: State only the facts that are legally relevant, i.e., facts that impacted the outcome of the case.
- Issues in Question: Describe the factual and legal questions that the court had to address.
- Holding: In a word or two, state the answer to each question from the "Issues" section, followed by a sentence or two explaining the legal principle behind the answer.
- Judgement: Distinguish the judgement from the holding. The judgement is the court's factual determination, such as "affirmed," "reversed," or "remanded."
- Relevant Rules of Law: Describe each element that must be satisfied for the rule to apply and any jurisdictional differences.
When writing your case brief, remember to focus on the most important parts of the case and use your own words to describe the courts' decisions and legal terminology. This process will help you understand the case better and identify the pertinent information.
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The system of precedent
The doctrine of precedent dictates that a legal principle established by a superior court should be followed in similar cases by that court and other courts. This doctrine aims to ensure consistency in judicial decision-making, following the idea that like cases should be determined in a like manner. There are two types of precedent: binding and persuasive.
A precedent is considered binding when it is established by a superior court higher in the hierarchy of courts. Lower courts are obligated to follow binding precedents if they are relevant and the circumstances of the cases are sufficiently similar. For example, decisions of a High Court are binding on all lower courts within its jurisdiction, but a decision of a District Court is not binding on a Supreme Court.
On the other hand, a precedent is considered persuasive if it is established by a superior court that is not higher in the hierarchy of courts. In this case, the precedent should be seriously considered but is not mandatory to follow. For instance, a precedent set by the Supreme Court of one state may be persuasive but not binding on the Supreme Court of another state, as they are courts of equal authority. Additionally, decisions of superior overseas courts can also serve as persuasive precedents in some countries.
It is important to note that litigation settled out of court does not generate a written decision and, therefore, has no precedential effect. Furthermore, in civil law systems, the doctrine of stare decisis is not commonly used as it violates the principle that only the legislature may make laws. Instead, civil law systems rely on the doctrine of jurisprudence constante, where consistent holdings using sound reasoning from previous decisions are highly persuasive but not controlling on issues of law.
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Case citators
Citators are particularly useful when it comes to tracing whether a case has been published in a law report or appealed to a higher court. This is important because, while cases may be reported in multiple law reports, there is a preferred version hierarchy, with authorised law reports at the top. Legal researchers are therefore advised to cite the most authoritative version.
Citators have their own symbols to indicate the treatment of a case and provide information such as case history and citing references. They are often editorial features and may not be found with freely available resources. One free citator alternative is Google Scholar, which provides a "how cited" tab with results.
Citators are also useful for navigating the different citation systems used in different jurisdictions. For example, in common law countries with an adversarial system of justice, the names of opposing parties in a case title are separated by "v", an abbreviation of the Latin word "versus", meaning "against". In Commonwealth countries, this is usually pronounced "and", so "Smith v Jones" would be read as "Smith and Jones". However, this differs in the US, where "v" is usually written as "v." and pronounced as "versus".
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