FINDING AND USING CASE LAW

UNIT 4
 How to Read a Case

• Criminal cases /civil cases.

• The difference between these cases must be
understood.
 How to Read Criminal Cases

The parties are:

• The State v Accused
• e.g.:
The People v Banda
 How to Read Criminal Cases

Where the accused appeals against the

judgment, the parties are:
• The Accused v The People
• E.g.:
• Banda v The People
 How to Read Criminal Cases

In criminal cases which were decided before

1964 the letter ‘R’ was used instead of ‘The
People’
• E.g.:
• R v Mainza Chona
 How to Read a Civil Cases

The parties are:

• The Plaintiff v The Defendant
• E.g.:
• Thandiwe Banda v Post Newspapers
Limited
 How to Read a Civil Cases

In an appeal, the parties are:

• The Appellant v The Respondent
• Where an individual makes an ex – parte
application:
• Ex – Parte The name of the party
• E.g:
• Ex – Parte Addleson
 How to Read Civil Cases

• Ex parte is a Latin legal term meaning "from (by or

for) [the/a] party”
• An ex parte decision is one decided by a judge
without requiring all of the parties to the
controversy to be present
 How to Read a Civil Case

• ‘In Re’ means ‘in the case of’;

• Commonly used in probate proceedings in the
UK
• E.g: In Re Whaley
 Case Citation

What is Case citation?

• abbreviated form of reference to a particular report
of a case
• makes it possible for lawyers , magistrates and
judges to be able to find the case more easily
• Each Case has its own unique case citation
 Making sense of Case citations

• Banda and Phiri v Siliya (2011 HP/EP/11&39)

[2012] ZMHC 39
• This case has 2 citations
– [2012] ZMHC 39 is the neutral citation -
facilitates the publication of judgments online,
and the access of judgements that are stored
on electronic databases
 Making sense of Case citations

• Banda and Phiri v Siliya [2012] ZMHC 39

• [2012] The year of the judgment, given in square
brackets
• ZM for Zambia in relation to the jurisdiction of the
court
• HC an abbreviation of the court; the High Court
• 39 is the serial number of the case
 Making sense of Case citations

• Banda and Phiri v Siliya

• (2011 HP/EP/11&39) is the other citation – it is a serial
number assigned to a document once filed in at the
court registry to commence court process. This is given
by registry staff and also becomes the file number.
• By presenting the serial number, and paying a fee, you
are able to access the file of a case.
 Making sense of Case citations

Banda and Phiri v Siliya

• (2011 HP/EP/11&39)
• 2011 is the year the case was commenced HP
High Court, principal registry
• EP denotes the nature of the case; an Election
Petition
• 11&39 denotes the cause number of the case
 Making sense of Case citations

Supreme court judgments

• Simeza and others v Mzyeche (APPEAL NO.
87/2011) [2011] ZMSC 3 (25 November 2011);
SCZ JUDGMENT NO. 23 OF 2011
• ‘(APPEAL NO. 87/2011)’ is the case number. It
was appeal number 87 in 2011
• ‘[2011] ZMSC 3’ is the media neutral citation
 Making sense of Case citations

• [2011] the year of the judgment

• ZM for Zambia in relation to the jurisdiction of
the court
• SC is an abbreviation of the court; the
Supreme Court
• 3 is the serial number of the case.
 Law Report Citations

The judgments of cases are also reported in various

series of law reports. They contain:
• A case name
• The year
• The volume
• The law reports in which the case was reported
• The page in the volume on which the case starts and
• The court in which the case was decided
 Law Report Citations

The People v Banda (1993)1 ZR 160(H.C)

• 1993 the case was reported in 1993
• 1 volume 1 of the law report
• ZR is an abbreviation for the Zambia Law Reports.
• 160 is the page on which the case is found
• H.C is abbreviation for the court; the high court
 Law Report Citations

R v Mainza Chona (1962) R and N.R.L.R 368

• 1962 means the case was reported in 1962
• R and N.R.L.R is an abbreviation for the Northern
Rhodesia Law Reports
• 368 is the page on which the case is found
 Law Report Citations

In Re Whaley [1908] 1 Ch 615

• 1908 the case was reported in 1908
• 1 it is found in volume 1 of the law report
• Ch is an abbreviation for Chancery division law
reports.
• 615 is the page on which the case is found
 Law Report Citations

R v Mirza [2004] UKHL 2; [2004] 1 AC 1118

• [2004] UKHL 2 is the neutral citation
• UKHL jurisdiction of the court
• [2004] 1 AC 1118 is the law report citation
• 2004 means the case was reported in 2004
• AC is an abbreviation for the Appeal Cases Law
Reports
• 1118 is the page on which the case is found
 Reported and Unreported Cases
• Only a small portion of cases end up being reported

• As such a vast number of cases are unreported

• In Zambia these are available online on these free

databases
– e.g. www.zambialii.org
– www.unza.zm/zamlii
– www.judiciary.gov.zm
 Distinction between reported and unreported cases

Reported Cases:
• The People v Banda (1993)1 ZR 160(H.C)
• R v Mainza Chona (1962) R and N.R.L.R 368
 Distinction between reported and unreported cases

Unreported cases:
• Banda and Phiri v Siliya (2011 HP/EP/11&39)
[2012] ZMHC 39
• Michael Chilufya Sata v Hakainde Hichilema
2012/HP/0626
• END