LAW 204 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Precedent, Canada, Supreme Court Of The United States
LAW 204
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 1: How to Brief a Case
Overview:
• What is a Case?
• Why are Cases Important?
• What is a Case Brief?
• How to Brief a Case?
• Succeeding in this Course
What is a Case?
• A ase is a reported judgeet or deisio of a ourt
• In our legal system, the trial of private or public law litigation ends in the written
judgement or decision of the court
• Case a e used i referee to the ritte eplaatio ad justifiatio of a ourt’s
decisions regarding both the legal and factual issues raised by trial or appellate litigation
Importance
• Canada has a common law legal system
• Judges’ deisios are of etral iportae to the otet of the la
• The legal system is committed to the related doctrines of stare decisis and precedent
o Creates stability and fairness
• “tare deisis is Lati for to stad thigs deided
o Points of litigation are determined according to precedent
o Like cases will be treated alike
• Ratio deidedi is the reaso or ratioale for a deisio
o Each case raises a legal issue or question
o A ratio us the generalized principle of law which answers that question
o Ratios are the precedential part of a case
• Some court decisions are binding
o Lower courts in the same jurisdiction must abide by them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Supreme court of Canada (SCC) decisions apply in all jurisdictions
• Other decisions are persuasive
o Higher courts or courts in other jurisdictions may draw on them to form a
judgement but are not bound
o Deisios fro other outries’’ ourts ith siilar legal sstes a e
persuasive
• REVIEW: List whether each of the following are binding or persuasive
1. A Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Ontario Court of Appeal - BINDING
2. An Alberta Trial Court decisions in the Alberta Court of Appeal – PERSUASIVE
3. A BC Court of Appeal decision in the Ontario Court of Appeal – PERSUASIVE
4. A Supreme Court of the United States decision in the Supreme Court of Canada -
PERSUASIVE
Case Brief
• Cases contain legal principles which resolve legal issues but are difficult to read:
o Judges may use archaic (old) and confusing language
o Cases are long, often dealing with multiple legal issues and you may only be
interested in one of them, making most of the reading irrelevant
o Similarities or differences in fact scenarios can be obscured by excessive details
or non-standard formatting
• Case briefs allow us to identify the legal and precedential content of a case by reducing
it to its most essential facts, issues, ratios and arguments
• Briefs are quicker and easier to read and compare to other cases and help make
predictions on probable outcomes in similar future cases
How to Brief
• FACTS
o Use only what is essential
o Be extremely selective and concise
o Trivial details (names, dates etc) almost never needed
o Describe actions in terms of what the Plaintiff (party bringing the lawsuit against
the other party) and Defendant (party accused of wrongdoing) do
• ISSUE(S)
o Identify the central legal issue or problem raised and resolved in the case:
▪ E: What does iprisonment mean for the purpose of liability for the
purpose of liailit for the tort of false iprisoet?
• RATIO
o The ratio is the rule that comes out of the case
o Is the most generalized answer
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Overview: what is a case, why are cases important, what is a case brief, how to brief a case, succeeding in this course. What is a case: a (cid:272)ase is a reported (cid:862)judge(cid:373)e(cid:374)t(cid:863) or (cid:862)de(cid:272)isio(cid:374)(cid:863) of a (cid:272)ourt. Importance: canada has a common law legal system, the legal system is committed to the related doctrines of stare decisis and precedent. Identify: who won, remedies, damages awarded, if any, costs or indemnification, if any, appeals overturned or sustained, rarely as important as the ratio. Tips: be concise and critical, a suggested approach, skim the case. Lecture 2: legal analysis in a business context. Appeal: can be persuasive to lower courts in british columbia if bcca has not rules on the specific issue of law. Issue spotting: the key to issue spotting is to identify which facts raise which issues. Questions to ask when reading cases: what facts and circumstances brought these parties to court, are there buzzwords that suggest an issue.
