Keith Mack
Reported cases are those judgments published in law reports, which are compilations of judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. Law reports are published records of judicial decisions that are cited by lawyers and judges as precedent in subsequent cases. Cases that are published in law report series are those that deal with significant points of law or establish precedents. Reported cases include the authorised report series for each court, and subject or jurisdiction-based report series. In each jurisdiction, one law report series has the official approval of the judiciary. This is the authorised law report. However, not every case will be published in an authorised law report. Cases that are legally unimportant may never be published in a law report series.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Definition | A reported case in law is a compilation of judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. |
| Purpose | Reported cases serve as published records of judicial decisions that are cited by lawyers and judges for their use as precedent in subsequent cases. |
| Official vs. Unofficial | Official law reports are authorized for publication by statute or other governmental ruling. Unofficial law reports are not officially sanctioned and are published as a commercial enterprise. |
| Case Importance | Reported cases typically deal with significant points of law or establish precedents. |
| Case Availability | Reported cases are available in authorized report series for each court, and subject or jurisdiction-based report series. |
| Citation Rules | Citation rules require individuals to cite to the official reports once a court opinion is officially published. |
| Publication Format | Traditionally, law reports were published in printed volumes containing the text of judgments. Now, law reports are available online through subscription databases. |
| Citation Format | The citation format for a reported case typically includes the party names, year, volume, publication abbreviation, and starting page. |
| Case Selection | Reported cases are selected, reviewed, and officially approved by the judiciary, recognizing them as the 'authorized' or official version of the judgment. |
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What You'll Learn
What is an unreported case?
An unreported case is a legal opinion that has not been published in a hard copy reporter series, such as the West Regional and Federal Reporters from the National Reporter System. This means that the written judgment has not yet been published in a law report. It is possible to have a published case that is unreported, for example, if the editors of the hard copy reporters choose not to include a case, but the court has not placed any limitations on the citation of or the publication status of the opinion.
Unreported judgments can be cited in assessments if there is no alternative law report version available. However, if the case is subsequently reported in a law report series, that version must be referenced instead. In addition, in many cases, unreported cases will not have a binding jurisdictional effect, and acting like they do is improper.
In the legal domain, courts designate opinions as "unpublished" if they do not add anything new to the respective body of law. Consequently, an opinion is considered published unless explicitly labeled as unpublished. It is worth noting that only a small percentage of cases are designated for publication by a court and subsequently published in a reporter. However, many cases are unpublished but still available in legal databases such as Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law.
In Illinois, Supreme Court Rule 23 initially allowed reviewing courts in Illinois to issue decisions as unpublished orders if the ruling did not establish the law and was therefore not precedential. However, an amendment to Rule 23, effective from January 1, 2021, now allows these unpublished orders to be cited for persuasive purposes.
Before January 1, 2003, when a court of appeals issued a decision, the court could decide whether its opinion would be published or unpublished. After this date, the Texas Supreme Court changed the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure so that all opinions issued on or after that date would be published. This rule change dramatically increased the number of published opinions issued by Texas courts of appeals each year.
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What is a reported opinion?
In law, a legal opinion is a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, outlining the rationale and legal principles for the ruling. Opinions are usually published at the court's direction and contain pronouncements about what the law is and how it should be interpreted. They reinforce, change, establish, or overturn legal precedent.
A Texas court of appeals opinion is sometimes called a "reported opinion" (also known as a "reported case" or "reported decision") if the case is included in the hardbound South Western Reporters. However, the precedential value of a case is determined by whether it is "published" rather than "reported". Before January 1, 2003, when a court of appeals issued a decision, it could decide whether its opinion would be published or unpublished. After this date, the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure were changed so that all opinions would be published.
The term "reported opinion" generally refers to an opinion that has been included in the hardbound South Western Reporter. Thomson Reuters, the company that prints the South Western Reporter, does not include all "published opinions" issued by courts of appeals. Therefore, there are many "published opinions" that are not "reported opinions".
It is important to note that not every case decided by a higher court results in the publication of an opinion. Many cases do not have published opinions because an opinion is often only published when the law is being interpreted in a novel way or the case is a high-profile matter of general public interest.
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Law report series
A law report series is a collection of judgments compiled and published on a periodic basis. The most important cases from each year, as determined by the publisher, are included for publication. Law report series can be generalist or subject-specific.
The number and names of law report series have changed over time due to changes in the court system. In each jurisdiction, one law report series has the official approval of the judiciary. This is the authorised law report. However, not every case will be published in an authorised law report. This means that a case may be published in multiple formats, such as one unreported citation, several law report citations, and one authorised law report citation. This is known as parallel citations.
The Law Reports is the name of a series of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting. They are considered the most authoritative reports and should be cited in preference to other reports of the same case. This series is now divided into four main sub-series: Law Reports, Appeal Cases, covering decisions of the House of Lords (and, since 2009, the Supreme Court), the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal; Law Reports, Chancery Division, covering decisions of the Chancery Division of the High Court; Law Reports, Family Division, covering decisions of the Family Division of the High Court; and Law Reports, Queen's Bench, covering decisions of the King's Bench Division of the High Court.
The ICLR has been publishing the official series of The Law Reports since 1865 and the leading general series, The Weekly Law Reports, since 1953. In addition, they publish three specialist series: on employment law (The Industrial Cases Reports), commercial law (The Business Law Reports), and on local government and charity law (The Public and Third Sector Law Reports).
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Official vs. unofficial law reports
Official law reports are governmentally approved publications that reproduce reported cases within a given jurisdiction. They are designated as official 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 reports are considered the most authoritative and should be cited when submitting documents to the court in that jurisdiction.
In the UK, the Official Law Reports: Appeal Cases (AC), Queen's Bench (QB), Family (Fam), Chancery (Ch), and earlier series of the Law Reports published by the ICLR have been the most authoritative reports since 1865. In the US, the Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement, and Federal Appendix are also considered official despite being published by a commercial publisher as there is no other comprehensive source that publishes these decisions.
Unofficial law reports, on the other hand, are not officially sanctioned and are published as a commercial enterprise. They are published by private companies, such as West, LexisNexis, and BNA. Unofficial reports are generally considered non-authoritative and should not be cited in legal documents. However, they may be cited by lawyers and law journals until the case comes out in the official report. To maintain a competitive advantage, unofficial reports usually provide helpful research aids, such as summaries, indexes, and searchable online databases.
The distinction between official and unofficial law reports is important as it determines the authority and reliability of the reported cases. Official reports are considered more reliable and carry more weight in legal proceedings. However, unofficial reports can still be useful for research and understanding the law, especially with the added features provided by commercial publishers.
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Case citation
In some jurisdictions, case citations are called "reported opinions" or "reported decisions". In Texas, for example, a "reported opinion" generally refers to an opinion that has been included in the hardbound South Western Reporter. Before 2003, a court of appeals could decide whether its opinion would be published or unpublished. After 2003, all opinions issued by Texas courts of appeals are published, but not all are included in the South Western Reporter.
In most cases, unreported judgments are made available online on court websites, legal information websites, or subscription databases. A case may contain parallel citations, meaning there is more than one full-text version of the case. This can occur when a case is published in multiple formats, such as one unreported citation and several law report citations. In such cases, only the most authorised citation should be used.
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Frequently asked questions
A reported case in law is a case that has been published in a law report series. These reports are compiled by editors and include summaries of the case facts, the law principles decided in the judgment, and verbatim transcripts of the judge's reasoning.
Reported cases are those that deal with significant points of law or establish precedents. Unreported cases are those that are not considered important enough to be included in a law report series. Unreported cases are often too recent to be reported or may never be reported.
Reported cases are important as they serve as a published record of judicial decisions that can be used as precedent in subsequent cases. They are also a way to make court decisions more accessible to the public.
Reported cases can be found in law report series, which are available in print and online through subscription databases. Cases can be located using a case citation, which includes the case name and an abbreviated form of the court or publication details.
