case brief and case analysis.docx

1、case brief and case analysisHow to brief the opinion of a caseA judicial decision or opinion is a statement by a judge explaining why he decided the case the way he did. Since there is not a unified format of how to draft an opinion, different judges write the opinion differently, based on their per

2、sonal writing styles. No matter how different the opinions may be, each opinion is expected to contain a summary of the procedural history of the case, a statement of facts, an explanation of the reasons that lead to the conclusion, and the conclusion of the decision.Components of A Judicial Decisio

3、nUnder the rule of stare decisis a court is bound to follow the prior decisions made by the higher courts within the same jurisdiction or by the court itself when the causes of action of the precedents are the same as the causes of action of the new case, and when the material facts of the precedent

4、s are similar as the facts before the court. However, even if a court is bound to follow a precedent, not everything said by a court in its judgment in a case has authority as precedent. The prior decision may be very long and contains various parts. A judicial opinion is composed of two main parts.

5、 One part is the proposition of law which is necessary for its decision on the facts of that particular case. Since this part carries authority as precedent and is binding under the rule of stare decisis, it is called ratio decidendi or holding of the decision. The second part is the remaining langu

6、age in the opinion which is referred to as obiter dictum or dicta , which carries less weight in legal argument.Holding-ratio decidendiHolding is the part of a decision which establishes the legal principles and rules which carry binding authority under the doctrine of stare decisis. It is also call

7、ed ratio decidendi. It explains the reason or ground for the decision. Thus it is very important to locate the holding of a case in order to apply the precedent rule. Sometimes the court itself will announce its holding in the opinion, but other times the court will not explicitly announce it and yo

8、u have to locate the holding through your own examining of the opinion. Sometimes the court may use the term holding saying that the holding is something, however, this may not be the true holding and after careful examination, you may find the actual holding is something else. Also the holding arti

9、culated by the courts may be too broad or narrow. Since the holding of a case is the rule of law that comes from that decision, it must include the courts decision as to the question that was actually before the court. Therefore, an accurate holding should include both the important facts of that li

10、tigated case and the reasons that the court gave for deciding the issue as it did based on those facts. Thus, the holding is different from general principles of law. A principle of law tells you the legal rule while a holding tells you both the facts and the rule applicable specifically to these fa

11、cts. If a court in a contract case says a contract requires an offer and an acceptance, that is a pure legal principle that has come from many years of contract litigation, but it is not necessarily a statement of the holding of the case because it does not specifically mention the facts of the case

12、. The holding would be a statement like, When B produced a fraudulent punchboard as required by the advertisement, he accepted the offer and a contract has been formed. This statement contains both the key facts and the elements of law supporting the reason.Obiter Dictum Obiter dictum or dicta means

13、 a saying by the way, referring to all the languages contained in the decision that are not part of the holding. This part of the opinion does not have the binding authority on later courts. It includes statements or observations made by a court in its judgment which were not necessary for its decis

14、ion. Statements that are dicta are not always unimportant, however. Sometimes the dicta in a case become more important in later years than the holding of the case because dicta reflect other judges concerns and often indicate how a court would rule in the future, given a particular set of facts.The

15、 Essential Elements of an OpinionWhen analyzing a case, you may need to summarize the opinion since each opinion could be lengthy and may contain many issues and you may not afford to re-read it to find the useful information. Such a summary is called a case summary by English lawyers and a case bri

16、ef by American attorneys. Basically, a case summary is an organized, written summary of the important elements of a case. Although judicial opinions can contain many things, several components are critical. These are the procedural history of the case, a description of the legally relevant facts, a

17、statement of the legal issue or issues presented for decision, the holding of the case, the policies and reasons that support the holding, and the judgment.The following example describes the basic elements of a judicial opinion:State v. Jones(1) Jones appeals his conviction for possession of mariju

18、ana. (2) When the police stopped and searched Jones van, they found an ounce of marijuana in a backpack in the far rear of the vehicle. (3) Although Jones admitted he knew the marijuana was there, he defended against the charge by claiming that the backpack and drugs belonged to a hitchhiker who had

19、 been riding with him and who had accidentally left them in the van. (4) In this state, it is presumed that drugs are in the possession of the person who controls them. (5) The issue in this case is whether the marijuana was within Jones control even though it was in a backpack in the rear of his va

20、n. (6) That the backpack and drugs may have been owned by someone else is irrelevant. (7) Public policy dictates that possession should not be synonymous with ownership because the difficulty of proving ownership would permit too many drug offenders to evade prosecution. (8) It is sensible to assume

21、 that anything inside a vehicle is within the control of the driver. (9) We hold that Jones possessed marijuana because the backpack was within Jones van and thus under his control. (10) Affirmed. All of the essential elements of a case are in the above example. Sentence (1) sets out the procedural

22、history. Sentences (2) and (3) give the legally relevant facts. Sentence (5) is the issue presented for decision by the appellate court. Sentence (9) is the courts holding. Sentence (4) gives the rule of law applicable to this factual situation. Sentences (6), (7), and (8) are reasons and policies t

23、hat support the holding. Sentence (10) is the judgment of the case. This is a good example of a case opinion which contains all of the basic elements, but not every case has been written in such a clear and organized way. However, each case should contain these elements. Before further discussing ea

24、ch part individually, see an example of a case brief. When reading it, think how much information you get out of it. Brief of Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co.Ct.ofApp. , 1892, 1 Q.B. 256 (1893) Procedural History: Carlill brought an action against the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. to recover damages for

25、 breach of contract. The trial court awarded damages in the amount of the original advertised reward to Carlill. The Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. brought this appeal. Facts: The Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. advertised in various newspapers a reward to any person who contracted influenza, colds, or any disease

26、 caused by taking cold after having used the Carbolic Smoke Ball three times daily for two weeks according to printed directions on each ball. Carlill used the ball as directed but still caught the influenza.Issue: When a company advertises a reward to anyone who performs certain conditions and some

27、one performs such conditions, has a valid contract been formed?Holding: Yes, an advertised reward to anyone who performs certain conditions specified in the advertisement is an offer, and the performance of such conditions is an acceptance which creates a valid contract.Reasons: The advertisement cl

28、early offered a reward to anyone who performed certain specified conditions. Since such an advertisement requests deeds, not words, an offeree need not give notice that he is going to perform the required deeds. As such, when Carlill performed these conditions she was entitled to the reward. Further

29、more, there is no basis to the Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. s contention that there was no consideration for its promise. Any acceptance of the Companys offer benefited it by stimulating sales of the smoke ball, and furthermore, Carlill was inconvenienced by using the ball. Judgment: The trial courts dec

30、ision is affirmed. The original opinion of this case is much longer. You may have understood the rule of law or the reasoning behind it through your first reading, however, when you need to use those information, it is not uncommon that you find you have totally forgot it, or your memory only reveal

31、s. a vague impression. Then you have to read the long opinion again. However , if you draft a case brief as above, it is very concise but includes all essential parts of the case. Reviewing the case brief that is less than one page will not be difficult for you at all. You write case brief not only

32、for your own use. Sometimes you need to present it to your colleagues or supervisors who are too busy to read the original opinion. Therefore briefing cases is one of the important lawyering skills.Now, after discussing the basic structure and elements of a judicial opinion, we will destruct a judic

33、ial opinion and study each of its elements individually.1Procedural HistoryWhen briefing a case, attorneys should first locate the procedural history of the case and then write it down as the first part of the case brief. The purpose of spotting the procedural history is to pinpoint the current procedural stat