At this stage of your research it is time to look at a case. You need to become familiar with the structure of cases to help you read and analyse the case. Reading the case is an essential skill which is covered in your tutorials. As a prelude to reading a case you need to understand the structure of a case in a report series.
There are essentially two main parts to a case:
While the decision is the same in all formats, reported and unreported, the supporting information and analysis is much more substantial in a reported series.
In particular, the headnotes of the Commonwealth Law Reports (CLR) contain a summary of the arguments used by both sides. This is the only series that includes this information.
Headnotes to a report sit above the decision.
They are added by editors and should not be quoted as they do not form part of the decision.
Headnotes usually contain:
You should also notice a change in the writing style from the summary/point form in the headnotes to a more discursive argument.
When possible make sure you are looking at the case in a reported series and not in its unreported or medium neutral format.
What is the first date the Court started hearing the arguments concerning a case?
There may be a sequence of dates given.
The first is the starting date, and the last is the date the decision was handed down. Other dates indicate other days the Court heard the argument.
In some series the judges' words follow the phrase Cur. adv. vult. (Curia advisari vult: the court will consider). This means the judgment of the court will follow this phrase.
Sometimes there are a few blank lines following the end of the headnotes, and the name of the judge(s) is printed in bold at the beginning of the judgment(s).
Recent decisions have the number 1 next to the first paragraph of the judge's decision. This is required for compliance with medium neutral citation rules - see the Legal Citation Lesson for details.
Further explanation of the structure of a case is given in your text book Laying Down the Law, (9th ed, 2015) Chapter 6 Case Law and Precedent, in particular 6.2 Reading and analysing a case.
The following diagram shows how to find the information to complete the task below. See if you can find these details in the CaseBase entry, PDF or print copy of this case.
When you are reading a case you should now know its two elements:
Familiarise yourself with reading cases and see how the headnotes vary for the same case in different case reports. If a case is reported in more than one case series, the headnotes will vary, but the judge's words will always stay the same.
When you are reading a case you should now know its two elements: the judge's words and everything else.
Familiarise yourself with reading cases and see how the headnotes vary for the same case in different case reports. If a case is reported in more than one case series, the headnotes will vary, but the judge's words will always stay the same.