LAW1LIM Study Guide - Final Guide: Children'S Book Council Of Australia, Supreme Court Of Victoria, Ratio Decidendi
Document Summary
Three steps for working with precedent: determine whether the precedent is binding or persuasive, identify the legal rule(s) in the precedent, apply the identified legal rule(s) to the present case. Rule: state the relevant legal rule or principle. Application: apply the principle to the new facts. Conclusion: state a clear conclusion as to how the issue would be decided. Lower courts are bound by the decisions of higher courts in the same court hierarchy. Recall acronyms for law reports state/territory and federal court hierarchy. Victorian supreme court decisions are reported in the victorian law reports. The reaso(cid:374) for de(cid:272)idi(cid:374)g(cid:859), i. e. parts of the decision necessary to determine the issue at hand. Identifying the ratio means identifying the legal rule or principle that underlies the decision, ie one must isolate an abstract legal principle that can be applied to future cases. 3 elements: equality of access to legal services, national equity, and, equality before the law.
