How to read & summarise case law
Law school is hard really hard. You basically have to learn a new language, learn about new ways to read the English language (because words in a legal context often mean something totally different compared to a traditional speaking language context), and worst of all, you have to learn how to read and summarise cases. This was probably the hardest thing I had to learn to do when I started out in law school, so here is a quick and easy guide on how to do it (it’s easier than you think!)
Reading the case:
first check to see if your lecturer has mentioned anything about the case in class or in the lecture slides, this will help you gain some context in easier language as a short summary, so that you don’t go in blindly without knowing what you’re reading about
Check your relevant textbook for any mentions of the case. At the back or front of your law textbook there will be a section called “Table of Cases”, which will contain an alphabetical list of all of the cases discussed in the textbook, as well as what page to find them on. They will often be mentioned with a footnote reference to make it easier to find. Read anything to do with the case to give you further clues as to the context.
Now the case: I always skip the flynote as it contains nothing important, only the most used words/ phrases that appear in the case will be stated here, so it doesn't give you any NB info
Read the Headnote/ Summary. This is a short summary of the case ranging from a sentence to a few paragraphs. This states the most important facts, highlights of the case, the most important case law and legislation relied on and the outcome of the case. This should give you a good context and understanding of what you are about to read about.
Skip the case information, anything important mentioned here was already mentioned in the headnote/ summary section, or will be mentioned in the judgement. This section basically just contains courts used and precedent or legislation that was relied on.
Read the Judgement and highlight important facts while you go along. When you find the legal question that the case is trying to answer, highlight it in a different color or make it stand out somehow from the rest of the annotations. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of the entire case.
Once you get to the end, note the outcome, whether there were costs awarded, whether the case is sent on review or appeal for a higher court to confirm the decision and anything that was proven or disproven in the case. Also obviously note who ‘won’ the case, or whether the accused was fund guilty or not-guilty.
Summarising the case:
Write down the case name and annotation at the top of the page in bold caps.
Write down the legal question of the case. There may sometimes be more than one, or there may be sub-questions to help prove the legal question. The legal question is the aim of the trial: what is this case trying to prove/ disprove or answer. This is the most important part of the case as it puts the arguments into context
write down all of the facts of the case, everything that is true and has been proved and accepted as fact by the court.
write down the arguments of each party. I break this down into either a table, or 2 separate bullet points with sub-points for each party’s argument. These arguments are things each party is trying to prove or convince the court of, these aren’t necessarily true but they are an attempt at finding the truth. Look out for the words “alleged” “counsel for the appellant/ applicant/ defendant/ respondent” “stated” and “argues that”
write down the outcome of the case including who ‘won’ or whether the defendant was pronounced guilty/ not-guilty, who has to pay the costs (or if the judge stated that there is no order as to costs, note this), whether the application/ appeal succeeded (civil case, or criminal appeal case), and if relevant, whether this order cancels out or agrees with the decision in the court a quo or previous court.
If there was more than 1 judge, and more than 1 decision, note any other diverging or non-concurring judgements shortly in a small summary as well as the reasoning for the differing opinion.
write down the reasoning of the majority judge’s decision (this usually doesn’t have to be long, just mention the relevant case law and legislation used to back up the reasoning)
Hope this helps all my fellow law students out there xxx