FUNDAMENTALS OF AUSTRALIAN LAW

MODULE 3

WEEK 3 CLASS 1 PRE-SEMINAR READING AND QUESTIONS

Reading

 Case law

Connecting with Law pp 76-93

Questions

1) List the main elements of a case.

The main parts of a case are:

- Citation

- Court

- Date

- Headnote

- Legal representatives

- Judgement

2) What is a case citation? What are the elements of a case citation?

Case citations are unique identifier that should enable someone to locate the exact case – like a
street address or URL.

The elements of a case citation are:

- Title
o Names of the parties such as Smith v Jones (civil) or R v Jones (criminal) These are
pronounced “Smith and Jones” – not versus – and Crown against Jones. The party
initiating the action is names first and the responding party is named second.
- Year
o The year the decision was reported, which is usually the same as the judgement. If
the year is in square brackets it means the law reports are bound by the year. If the
year is in round brackets it means the law reports are bound by volume.
- Law Report
o Includes the name of the law reports, the volume and the page reference.
3) What is a headnote? Why is it risky to rely on a headnote when you are reading a case?

A headnote is a brief note summarising the case written by layers or law graduates with legal
publishers. It is usually a short summary of the facts and the court’s decision in the case.

It is risky to rely on the headnote alone without satisfying yourself that the case really covers the
legal point you think it does.

4) What is the difference between a case summary and a case analysis?

Case summary
- Sets out formal details of the case.
- Citation, court, procedural history, issues, outline of court reasoning and orders made.
Case analysis
- Contains comments on the case and its significance when looked at from various
perspectives.
- More detailed analysis critiquing the judgements and considering the decision in its broader
social context.

5) Outline the main elements of a case summary.

A case summary contains:

; - Citation
; - Court
; - Procedural history
; - Facts
; - Issues
; - Reasoning/decision
; - Ratio decidendi
; - Obiter dicta
; - Order

6) What is meant by the ratio decidendi of a case? What is meant by obiter? (Note that we
will spend more time on these concepts later in this Unit).

The radio decidendi of the case is the answer to the main issues in the case, and so in most instances
the reason/decision will contain a statement of the ratio. However, this restates it in as short and
clear a sentence as possible.

The obiter refers to any useful discussion that was made in passing by the court, and in brackets the
place in judgement the discussion can be found.