LAW & the MODERN STATE 2007 CASE BRIEFING GUIDELINES Handout discussed first in Large Groups, Week 3

Nb: There is no right way to produce a case brief/summary. Ultimately you will f ind a style that suits you: remember the readership of a brief is you. Its pur pose is to distil the essential points of a case for later consultation (eg for an exam, or to follow up research). Here is a suggested guide. Note that the e ssential elements are marked with an asterisk.

*Citation The citation is simply the short title of the case. It lists the first named pa rties on both sides, and a reference so the judgment can be found. Eg: Applica nt v Respondent [2004] HCA 12; or ACTV v Commonwealth (1992) 177 CLR 106. It is useful also to note the Court involved, so you know the level and hence au thoritativeness of the judgment. Eg: High Court or Federal Court (Full Court) Procedural history The procedural history is sometimes important eg if the case is now in a n appeal court and one of the issues is the power of the appeal court to interve ne. It may be more efficient to present the detail on the procedural history with th e Facts.

*Facts Very briefly the key points relevant to the legal issues. You are not g enerally interested in all the (A procedural history may be included here)

*Legal issues The legal question/s that the court had to decide. Sometimes th ere are a number of issues or perhaps 1 major issue and other sub-issues (or sub -questions). When you are studying a particular area of law (eg contracts) you would normally only focus on the issues relevant to that area of law (eg in the study of contract, issues relating to evidence or powers of an appeal court wou ld be irrelevant to the purpose of your summary). Arguments In complex cases is may be useful to include this: ie to list t he core arguments of the applicant/appellant, then the respondent, in relation t o each legal issue. In shorter briefs or simpler cases you can cover the argume nts indirectly in your summary of the reasons for judgment.

*Reasons for judgment The essential points in the court s analysis. In particu lar, try to distil the ratio decidendi (the legal principle/s that explain the c ourt s decision on each issue). In an appeal, if there were several judgments rat

her than a single majority judgment, you should look for reasons on which severa l judges agreed, but also note any interesting reasoning of judge s in dissent. Again, your statement of the reasons should address the legal issues as defined by you. *Decision Very briefly: who won.

Orders Sometimes it may be relevant to note what the court said the parties sho uld do. (But generally in law study you are not concerned with the outcome from the individual parties perspective, but the issues/arguments/judgments and their significance to the development of the law). Other comments This may include interesting obiter dicta from the judge s - ie comments about matters that were not strictly necessary to resolve the le gal issues, but which reveal something of the court s leanings, biases or unstated assumptions. In significant cases, you should comment about the broader consequences of the j udgment (eg its applicability to future cases; its social/economic/political eff ects or reaction).