Reported cases
Definition;-
Reported cases are decisions of the courts that have been reported or published in a report series or law journals.
Elements of a reported case
1) Citation;-
The citation refers to the name of the reporter/journal ,year of decision ,name of court which decide the case and page number where the case may be found.
For example;-
PLD 2017 SC 712
2) Caption;-
The caption includes
· The name of judges
· The name of each party to the lawsuit and their court status.
· Relevant detail about case such as registration number of a case
· Names of advocates of parties
3) Head notes;-
The head notes are main points of case. They are not dictated by judge. They are written by editors of journals. They are written in bold form. They should be in the same sequence in which the judgment is. They are not the opinion of the court and have no authority of law.
4) Bodies of judgment;-
Body of the judgment includes the following points
i)Facts of the case;-
Judgment include the facts that gave rise to the legal dispute.
ii)Prior Proceedings;-
In this part of the judgment the court presents a summary of what happened in the lower court and who appealed.
iii)Issue or Issues;-
The issue is the legal question addressed by the court in the judgment.
iv)Rule of Law;-
The rule of law is the law that governs the issue.
v)Holding;-
The holding is the court’s application of the rule of law to the facts of the case. The holding is usually presented immediately after the rule of law in the judgement or after the reasoning at the end of the opinion.
Vi)Reason of decision;-
The reason of decision is the court’s explanation of how or why the rule of law applies to the dispute.
vii)Disposition/Relief Granted;-
The relief granted is usually a one-sentence statement by the court that includes the order of the court as a result of the holding. A court has several options when granting relief:
• It may agree with the trial court and affirm the trial court’s decision.
• It may disagree with the trial court and reverse the trial court’s decision. If it reverses the decision, it will remand, that is, send the case back to the trial court. When a case is remanded, the appellate court may order the trial court to:
A)Enter a judgment or order in accordance with the appellate court decision
B)Retry the case (conduct a new trial)
C)Conduct further proceedings in accordance with the appellate court decision
• If there are several issues, it may affirm the trial court on some of the issues and reverse the trial court on other issues.
viii)Concurring Opinion;-
If a judge agrees with the majority’s decision, the judge may present his or her reasons which is called a concurring opinion.
xi)Dissenting Opinion;-
If a judge disagrees with the majority’s decision, the judge may present his or her reasons which is called a dissenting opinion.
