The doctrine of precedent

From a Court which is higher in the court hierarchy Has similar facts or is on a similar area of law Is the Ratio Decidendi from the case The University of Western Australia Case Law: The Court Hierarchy Court of Appeal Full Federal Court Supreme Court Federal Court District Court Federal Circuit Court Federal State and Territory High Court Magistrate / Local Court The University of Western Australia Case Law: Key terms Ratio Decidendi = the key point of the case, the answer to

Case Law and
Precedent
FACULTY OF LAW

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Introduction
 The doctrine of precedent
 Australian court hierarchy
 Parts of a case / judgment

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Precedent
Precedent = Stare decisis
=
Following the decision of a higher court, or a previous
court, in a case where similar law applies, and /or which
has similar facts
“The doctrine is that whenever you are faced with a
decision, you always follow what the last person who was
faced with the same decision did. It is a doctrine eminently
suitable for a nation overwhelmingly populated by sheep”
- Justice Lionel Murphy (1979)

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Precedent
Advantages:
 Legal development
 Not arbitrary
 Fairness
 Flexibility
 Certainty
 Efficiency
Disadvantages:
 Injustice
 Manipulation
 Uncertainty
 Multiple judgments

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Key Terms
Binding = a precedent which MUST be followed
Persuasive = a precedent which is relevant but which is not binding
Highly Persuasive = a precedent which is highly relevant and applicable but not
technically binding
Largely Irrelevant = a precedent which is not relevant to your case

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: When is a Precedent Binding?
 From a Court which is higher in the court hierarchy
 Has similar facts or is on a similar area of law
 Is the Ratio Decidendi from the case

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: The Court Hierarchy
High Court
Court of
Appeal
Supreme
Court
District
Court
Magistrate /
Local Court
Full Federal
Court
Federal
Court
Federal
Circuit
Court
State and
Territory
Federal

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Key terms
 Ratio Decidendi = the key point of the case, the answer to the key issue in a
case, the part of the judgment that is used as a precedent in later cases
 Obiter dicta = comments made by judges in a judgment which are not
essential to the particular case but which are useful to explain the court’s
reasoning

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Finding the Ratio

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Finding the Ratio

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case
case name
citation
Page
number
parties Party role
Medium neutral citation

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case
Key words
Case
details
judges
Summary
of the case
- This is
NOT the
judgment

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case Law report
Page number year
Summary
of the
outcome
Relationship
to previous
litigation

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case
Summary of
legal
arguments
put to the
court

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case
Judgment/s

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case
Citations
Paragraph
numbers

The University of Western Australia
Case Law: Reading a Case
Final
outcome
Lawyers
appearing

The University of Western Australia
 You must follow precedent that is binding
 To determine if precedent is binding you must consider the court hierarchy,
ratio decidendi, and facts of the case
 Understanding how to read a case is important, practice makes perfect.
Case Law: Summary