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In this lesson, you will learn about the two types of primary law, the meaning of precedent, and how to read an opinion.
Introduction to Case Law
- Primary law
- The law in context
- Precedent
- Is a previous case always the law?
- Type of opinion
- Sample opinion
- Final decisions
- Case format
Transcript
The two types of primary legal sources are statutes and appellate opinions or case law. Primary sources tell the judge what the law is and provide authority for your written and legal arguments.
If you want to win in court, they are mandatory. Appellate cases differ from statutes, codes, and rules in that they interpret the law and apply the law in context.
Judges review cases and apply relevant statutes, regulations, and legal principles to particular situations, like negligence, trespassing, landlord tenant, reach of contract, and a host of others.
Lower courts rely on appellate court opinions to decide cases.
Stare decisis, Latin for \”to stand by things decided\”, is a term you will probably never use. But it\’s good to understand the idea behind it. It means that a past decision on a particular issue or principle of law sets a precedent. That is, it gives judges in future cases the authority to make the same decision where the facts are similar.
Is the previous case always the law? No. A judge does not always have to rule in the same way as a previous court. If the previous court is in a different jurisdiction, is a lower court, or has a set of dissimilar facts or issues, the judge is free to ignore the previous case. At the risk of being overturned, judges find other compelling reasons not to rule on precedent.
When selecting a case, you also want the majority opinion. That is the court\’s actual decision and the rationale for it. There might be a concurring opinion where one of the judges making the decision agrees with the outcome, but for different reasons.
There might also be a dissent in which a judge disagrees with the outcome for one or more reasons.
In some cases, the dissent might be the better opinion. You might say, \”Wow, this judge really supports my position.\” That doesn\’t matter. The dissent is not the law. The majority opinion is.
In this sample opinion of the famous case, Plessy v Ferguson, the identifying information about the case is at the very top, including who is appealing against whom, the date, and so on.
The middle sets out the facts, opinion, and rationale. The middle is usually the longest part of a decision. At the bottom are the dissenting and concurring opinions, if there are any. Here, Justice Harlan was the lone dissenter in a case that made \”separate but equal\” U.S. law. For years, his opinion was not the law. Plessy v Ferguson was precedent until it was overturned 50 years later.
When reading an appellate decision, make sure you know who the judge ruled in favor of and why. An appellate court can affirm, reverse, modify, or remand a case. In Plessy v Ferguson, the majority \”affirmed\” the lower court\’s ruling. That means it supported Ferguson\’s position. \”Reversed\” means to find error in a lower court\’s decision and overturn it. \”Modified\” means to make changes in the case based on the majority opinion. \”Remand\” means to send the case back to the lower court for more proceedings.
Let\’s look now at case citing. Here, Sawyer v Middle Fort is the case name, and 595 is the volume number.
Volume of what, you as? Appellate cases are written in what are called \”reporters\”. The NW2d is a short name for the reporter that serves Wisconsin.
Volume 595 is where the Sawyer case appears in that reporter. That\’s all you need to know about reporters. The case begins on page 423, and the year is 1999. Copy and paste the information about the case and arrange them as instructed.