Sources of Law II: Case Law

Sources of Law II: Case Law

• Case law, also known as common law, is a collection of judge-made rules. These rules have either a binding or a persuasive effect on future cases.
• Judge-made law occurs when a judge decides a case in a certain way, establishing a legal principle.
• The doctrine of precedent dictates whether a lower court must follow previous judgments. Binding precedent depends on statements of law (ratio decidendi) and decisions from superior courts.
• Certain courts are obligated to follow previous judgments, while others can ignore them due to seniority.
• Judges, in developing judicial precedent, act in a quasi-law-making capacity.
• Different courts have varying levels of binding authority on each other in the English legal system.
• The English legal system is a common law system, also known as a system of judge-made precedent.
• Common law provides flexibility for the application of broader rules to specific situations.

Common Law vs Civil Law

• Civil law systems rely on codified statutes as their primary source of law, rather than case law.
• Common law systems, like England, rely on case law for legal interpretation and application, alongside statutes.
• Equity is a distinct source of law that developed to mitigate the harshness of the common law in 15th-century England. The Court of Chancery used equitable principles to achieve fairness.

The Common Law: An Introduction

• Common law has several meanings, including: a system of law compared with civil law; common law principles compared to equitable principles; and common law as case law.
• Case law comprises precedents from court decisions.
• A key element of common law and is judge-made.
• Judicial decisions are known as judgments and may be binding or persuasive depending on the court's authority.

Case Law: General Principles

• Judge-made law is a core principle of common law.
• Judgments and decisions are categorized as either binding or persuasive.
• The ratio decidendi is the key principle or reasoning of the court's decision.
• Obiter dicta are statements of law made by the judge, not part of the core reasoning, but might be persuasive in later cases.
• England and Wales are the oldest common law jurisdiction globally.

Forms of Judgments

• A unanimous judgment results from complete agreement amongst the judges.
• A majority judgment is delivered when two or more judges agree but not all.
• A dissenting judgment expresses an alternative viewpoint from the majority.

Law Reporting and Case Citations

• English and Welsh courts use numerous law reports and case citations.
• The Law Reports are the most authoritative.
• The Weekly Law Reports (WLR), and All England Law Reports (All ER) are secondary sources.
• Website Bailii provides unreported cases.
• Citations follow a defined structure including case name, year, court, and page number.
• Abbreviations like AC, QB, Ch, and Fam are used in official reports.

The Law Reports (Incorporated Council)

• The most senior law reports are checked for accuracy by the presiding judge.
• The reports are categorized by court division (AC, QB, Ch, and Fam).

Other Reports (Specialist/Unreported)

• Special reports concentrate on particular areas of the law.
• Sometimes cases are not officially reported, but are available as transcripts.

Neutral citations are a system used to identify judicial decisions independently from the traditional reporting systems. This method provides a unique reference that consists of the year the decision was made, an abbreviation of the court, and a sequential number. For example, a neutral citation could look like "2023 EWCA Civ 45", indicating a decision from the England and Wales Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in the year 2023. The adoption of neutral citations enhances accessibility and clarity, ensuring that cases can be identified and referenced without ambiguity, especially as numerous different reporting systems may categorize the same case differently. This system is crucial in modern legal practice, enabling practitioners and researchers to track case law across various jurisdictions more effectively.

• Since 2001, cases use neutral citation to simplify referencing.
• Neutral citations use a unique identifier for each case (e.g., UKSC, EWCA Crim).

Precedent—The Principles

• The doctrine of precedent is a system of case law in which lower courts are sometimes bound by decisions of higher courts.
• The principle of stare decisis ("to stand by things decided") underlies most legal systems.
• Cases with similar facts are decided consistently to ensure consistency and fairness.

Superior Courts

• All courts are bound by superior court decisions (vertical stare decisis).
• Generally, a court is bound by its own previous decisions (horizontal stare decisis).

Binding vs Persuasive Precedent

• A binding precedent legally forces a lower court to follow the decision.
• A persuasive precedent provides influence but not legal obligation.
• Cases with different facts are legally distinguishable to avoid binding authority.

Judicial Law-Making—Overstepping the Mark

• Judges indirectly create law through precedent.
• Precedent involves applying existing law to new situations or adapting current rules to changed circumstances.