Lecture 5 Case Law 1
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Transcript of Lecture 5 Case Law 1
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CASE LAW
PART 1
THEORETICAL DIMENSIONS
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CASE LAW
Law is not found only in legislation but also in
the CASES decided by the courts
(superior courts Federal Court, Court of
Appeal & High Court)
Decisions of the courts = sources of law as
they decide on matters of law whereas
inferior courts decide on matters of facts
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CASE LAW
An important and primary source of law
Whilst statutes prescribe the law governing a
particular matter, judges INTERPRET them
within the framework ofFACTS in casesand when this exercise establishes a rule, it
becomes a PRECEDENT
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Judges contribute to development of
law in 2 ways
By APPLYING anestablished rule ofprinciple to a newsituation or a set offacts
Occurs most frequentlyin areas wherestatutory law has madeless impact such as thelaw of torts
By INTERPRETINGstatutes enacted bythe legislature.
Statutes are rarely self-contained or self-explanatory & courtsare frequently calledupon to decide whatthey mean & how theyare to be applied inparticular situations
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Judges do not decide arbitrarily
in arriving at a decision!
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They must follow PRECEDENT
A JUDGEMENT or DECISION of a court of law
cited as an authority for the legal principle
embodied in its decisions
This practice of following precedent is
commonly known as STARE DECISIS(literally it means let the decision stand)
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STARE DECISIS
When a court makes a decision in a case then
any courts which are of EQUAL or LOWER
status to that court MUST follow that previous
decision if the case before them is similar to
that earlier case.
Once a superior court has decided upon a
certain matter, the inferior courts are boundto follow that decision
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STARE DECISIS
If a judge fails to follow a binding precedent
the DECISION will be legally wrong and faces
likelihood ofREVERSAL upon appeal.
Even if there is no appeal for that particular
case, it can be OVERRULED in a latter case
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A DECISION of a case can mean a
number of different things:
Simplest : the decision is that X won and Y lost
Thus X and Y are bound by that decision (this is
referred to as
res judicata)
But when the word decision is used in the
context of legal analysis it refers to something
wider
It refers to the whole REASONING PROCESS
that went into deciding that X won
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Doctrine of Judicial Precedent is not simply a
mechanical process
Of matching similarities and differences.
Not merely a science of comparisons for it
embodies the art of interpretation; the art of
propounding the principle to be derived from
each case
It involves ARGUMENTS
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In deciding which precedent is binding,
judge is influenced by:
1. The ORIGIN of the precedent precedent
must originate from a court of appropriaterank in the same hierarchy
2. The CONTENTS of the precedent = theRATIO DECIDENDI
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No two cases are ever alike.
Query: how alike does a later case have to bedone before a court must follow a given
precedent? The theory of precedent rests upon the
proposition that the similarity between two
cases derives not just from their specific facts,but from their respective law-and-factcontent
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In law, every case has 2 aspects:
Particular dispute itself aFACT-SITUATION-
Examples:
A consumer alleges injury
suffered due to a faultyproduct;
A motorist is prosecuted for
driving whilst drunk;
A husband brings an actionagainst wife for divorce
PRECISE LEGAL ISSUEwhich these facts raise
Examples:
Circumstances provided in lawwhereby consumer obtains aremedy;
The legally prescribedconditions of liability underwhich motorist may beprosecuted
The legal grounds which mustbe shown before a divorcemay be granted
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It is these issues that legalargument and the citation of
precedents are directed
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Example
If the consumers injury is caused by a defective
bottle of shampoo, the Law Reports need not be
searched for previous cases where a bottle of
shampoo caused injury It is enough that we discover a legal authority,
through precedents, for the general legal
proposition that a consumer may in appropriatecircumstances recover compensation for injury
caused by a defective product
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The actual item which features in previous
cases might be a car, underwear or a bottle of
ginger-beer,
What really matters is the legal principle
involved and NOT the specific facts of the
previous case
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This legal principle is known asthe RATIO DECIDENDIthe part
of the decision which constitutes
the binding precedent
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Seems a simple proposition but its not.
Why?
Different judges may interpret judgments
given in previous cases quite differently
Different judges may conclude that in their
opinion the correct reading of a case provide
the ratio which may be wider or more
restrictive than the interpretation of their
colleagues on the bench
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Example of actual case law
Case 1: Donoghue v Stevenson[1932]
Suffered gastro-enteritis &
nervous shock due to
decomposed snail fallingout of the ginger beer
bottle which was opaque
Case 2: Grant v AustralianKnitting Mills [1936]
Contracted severe
dermatitis owing to excess
of sulphites in the garmentswhich should have been
removed by the
manufacturing process
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Some cases it is extremely difficult, if not
impossible,
to ascertain precisely the ratio of the case
And to distinguish the ratio from the
obiter dicta (the judges statements which are NOT part
of the points of legal principle and
accordingly not binding)
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Twinning and Miers:
talk of finding the ratio decidendi of a
case obscures the fact that the
process of interpreting cases is notlike a hunt for the buried treasure,
but typically involves an element of
choice from a range of possibilities
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Exceptions (WHEN judges need not
follow precedents):
If they can DISTINGUISH the facts of the
earlier case(s) from the current one;
Sometimes, they can even OVERRULE a
precedent (for eg. If they sitting in a superior
court in the hierarchy of courts)
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Distinguishing on the Facts
A device where a precedent may be avoided
Open to all courts irrespective of their place in
the hierarchy
This means that if a judge thinks that a
precedent which otherwise covers the case in
hand is nevertheless different in some
material particular, then the precedent may
be distinguished and not followed
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Process ofOVERRULING
Inherent in the court structure itself
A court is free to overrule a decision of a court
LOWER than itself, IF it is of the opinion that
the previous case was wrongly decided or has
become out of date
Eg: CoA may overrule a HC decision a FC may
overrule a CoA decision and sometimes a
previous decision of its own
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Conclusion
STARE DECISIS / DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT :let the decision stand /prinsip mematuhikeputusan yang terdahulu
RATIO DECIDENDI: part of the decision thatbinds / bahagian kes yang mengikat
OBITER DICTA: statements in passing /part of
the decision that DOES NOT bind / bahagiankes yang tidak mengikat
RES JUDICATA: Matter has been decided
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