Judgments
Sharon Turner & John Knowles
Why are judgments
important?
I.
Central feature of common law
jurisdictions
II.
Central focus of legal study –
understanding the law and the legal
system
III.
Assessment exercise for Introduction to Law
5 key things you need to
know about Judgments
Understand how judgments are recorded and
the role of ‘Law Reports’
Understand the ‘citation’ system for reported
judgments & how find them in library & online
Know how to ‘read’ judgments
Understand the doctrine of ‘precedent’
Understand the judicial process of ‘statutory
interpretation’
The ‘Law Reports’
Each time a case is decided a ‘judgment’ is
given
Not all judgments are formally recorded or
‘reported’
Reported judgments become part of corpus
of caselaw – precedent
‘Law Reports’ contain the published
judgments given in cases
‘Unreported’ cases should not be ignored!
Citation of Law Reports (NI)
Northern Ireland Law Reports
Case (and judgment) ‘cited’ as….
e.g., Robinson v Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland [2002] NI 390
Northern Ireland Judgments Bulletin
Cited as…
e.g., Re Sherlock and Morris’ Application [1996]
NIJB 80
Citation of Law Reports (GB)
I.
II.
III.
Appeal Cases – e.g., A v Home Secretary
[2005] 2 AC 68 (QB)
Weekly Law Reports – e.g., R v Secretary of
State for the Home Department, ex p Brind
[1991] 2 WLR 588 (HL)
All England Law Reports – e.g., R v Chief
Immigration Officer, Heathrow Airport, ex p
Salamat Bibi [1976] 3 All ER 843 (HC)
‘Neutral’ Citations
 Since 2001 judgments of CA, HL and more
recently, HC – have been given ‘neutral’
EG:
[2005] NIQB 1; [2005] NIFam 7; [2005] NICA 23
[2005] EWHC 235 (Admin Ct); [2005] EWCA
(Civ) 34; [2005] UKHL 34
Finding Judgments Online

Free access web-pages, .e.g,
http://www.courtsni.gov.uk;
http://www.echr.coe.int/echr;
http://www.bailii.org/

Subscriber online search engines
1.
2.
LexisNexis
WESTLAW
Reading “domestic” cases
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
The name of the case
The court in which it was heard
The name(s) of the judge(s) presiding
The hearing dates
The headnote
Notes of cross-references to Halsbury
A list of cases referred to
Reading “domestic” cases
viii. Details of the appeal
ix. The names of counsel appearing in
the case
x. The judgments (majority; minority;
etc)
xi. Letters in the margin (numbered
paragraphs)
Judgments – the EU
dimension
http://eurlex.europa.eu/en/index.htm
II. European Court Reports – e.g., Case
26/62, Van Gend & Loos [1963] ECR 1
III. Common Market Law Reports – e.g.,
R v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Food, ex p First City Trading
Limited [1997] 1 CMLR 250
I.
Reading EU judgments
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Date of judgment, nature and name of
case
Summary/headnote (including key
questions)
Composition of the Court
Judgment – issues of fact and law
Judgment – grounds for decision
Opinion of Advocate-General
Some points to note
i.
ii.
iii.
“Single” judgment; therefore there are no
dissenting opinions and the judges agree the text
in advance
Advocate-General’s opinion? – reports normally
place this at the front as it is delivered in advance
of the judgment of the Court
Not binding on the court, although the court may
adopt the opinion in whole or in part. However,
even where not adopted, the opinion can still play
an important role in the overall development of EU
law