Legal Writing I. WHAT TO FIND IN A CASE A. The docket number and the date of the promulgation of the decision.

The docket number is the serial number assigned to a case. It is important for identification. The date tells us when the decision was promulgated. B. The title of the case. By it we are made aware of the parties to the case-who sued, who won and who appealed, the procedural postures and litigation status of the parties in the appellate court. C. The syllabi or headnotes. This is a brief statement of the preposition of law found in the opinion of the court. It may be factual-an abstract of the facts that was considered by the court as the basis of its decision and/or the law, principles used in arriving at a conclusion. The syllabi or headnotes should not be considered as part of the decision/opinion. They must not be relied upon as authorities and therefore must not be quoted even if they are checked with the opinion and found to be accurate. When you quote you must go to the body of the opinion and indicate the page where the quoted portion was taken. D. The name of the counsels of the different parties. E. The brief statement of the origin and nature of the case. This portion of the decision gives us the information as to where the case originated (the lower court immediately proceeding the higher court where the case was elevated) and the procedural remedy resorted to by the party elevation the case to the present court (Supreme Court). F. The name of the justice who penned for the majority. The ponente of the case may not belong to the majority opinion. G. The statement of the facts. The facts stated by the appellate court in its decision are only what it considered as important in the disposition of the controversy. It is not a statement of the mass of raw facts of the controversy as appearing in the entire record or folio of the case as actually heard and tried in the court of origin. The higher court may om it or reject some facts as irrelevant or immaterial although they might appear significant to a layman.

H. The statement of the case. A summary of the important proceedings, orders or decisions of the lower tribunal/s from the time the case was first filed in court up to the time it reached the present court. It tells us how the lower court/s came to consider the case and how it decided the case. I. The statement of the issues/s. This is the question or controversy/conflict which the court was called upon to decide. The statement of issue/s may be a question of fact, when the doubt or difference arises as to the truth or falsehood of alleged facts or when it involves an examination of the probative value of the evidence presented, or a question of law-when the doubt or difference arises as to the meaning of the law or what the law is on a certain state of facts. J. The opinion. It is the statement of the reason supporting the adjudication or judgment. The opinion is the justification for the decision or judgment of the court. It is the reasoning or principle upon which the case is based. (This is what is known as Ratio Decidendi) When the reasons are made in passing stating a rule ona point not necessarily involved in a case-they are remarks made, or opinion expressed in by the way, that is incidentally or collaterally and not upon the question before the court or upon a point not necessarily involved in the determination of the case, or introduced by way of illustration or analogy or argument (Montano vs. Insular Government, 12 Phil. 588; 1909), it is known as Obiter Dicta or Dictum. K. The adjudication or the Dispositive Portion. The decision of the court in its judgment. L. Names of the Justices who participated in the decision-making. M. Concurring and/or dissenting opinion/s