case law technique

8/13/2019 Case Law Technique

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CASE-LAW TECHNIQUE


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It is to the effect that like cases must be treated alike. Itconstitutes the cornerstone of English Law and is adhered to inMauritius since the 1850s .


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Every decision of the Court contains 3basic ingredients:

1. Findings of material facts

2. Statements of principles of law relevant to thelegal problems disclosed by the facts

3. Judgment based on applying the law to thefacts


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Ratio Decidendi The Ratio Decidendi of a case is the rule of law

upon which the decision is founded, i.e. the

reasons for deciding the case. The Ratio Decidendi of a case can be defined as

the (legally) material facts of the case plus thedecision thereon.

The Ratio Decidendi of a case is binding andmust be followed in future cases, i.e. it bindsfuture Judges.


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Orbiter Dicta

It is something said by the Judge about the lawwhile delivering his opinion, which is not part ofthe course of reasoning leading to the decision ofsome question or issue presented to him.

A later Court may respect such statements, but isnot bound to follow them; they are only ofpersuasive value.


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How to determine the Ratio Decidendiof a case? The Ratio depends upon a process of abstraction

from the totality of the facts that occurred in itby using common sense and ones feeling whatthe Law ought to be

The process is basically one of choosing an

appropriate level of generality The Ratio Decidendi can be framed too widely or

too narrowly

The higher the abstraction, the wider the Ratio


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How to determine the Ratio Decidendiof a case?

In a Court of Appeal decision, where each Judge

may deliver his opinion, the Ratio Decidendi isascertained by adding up the facts regarded asmaterial by any group of Judges whose opinionsconstitute the majority, and to base the Ratio

Decidendi on those facts


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Illustration

Case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932]

FACTS

May Donoghue, a Scots widow, ordered an ice-cream drink. The owner ofthe caf where she was, brought the order and poured part of an opaque

bottle of ginger beer into a tumbler containing ice cream. Mrs Donoghuedrank some of the contents and when she lifted the bottle to pour theremainder of the ginger beer into the tumbler, a dead snail, in a state of decomposition, plopped out of the bottle into the tumbler. Mrs Donoghuelater complained of stomach pain and her doctor diagnosed her as havinggastroenteritis. She also claimed to have suffered emotional distress as a

result of the incident.

She brought an action against David Stevenson, an aerated watermanufacturer in Paisley, in which she claimed 500 as damages for injuriessustained by her through drinking ginger beer which had been

manufactured by the defendant.


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The range of facts could be stated at alternative

levels of generality

Fact as to the agent of the harm

Dead snails

Any snails

Any noxious physical foreign bodyAny noxious foreign element, physical or not

Any noxious element


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Fact as to thePlaintiffsidentity

A Scots widow

A Scots womanA woman

Any adult

Any human being

Any legal person


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A Judge may find himself in a position where, inspite of a precedent, he decides that the latter is

not applicable to the case he is trying

There are then several courses of action open to

him


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Distinguishing Cases

A Judge must follow a precedent unless he canreasonably distinguish it


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Changed ConditionsCessante ratione cessat ipsa lex

i.e. a case ceases to be law owing to changed

conditions

InR v Jackson it was considered that thehusbands power to confine and chastise his wife

never represented the common law

When the nature of things change, the rule oflaw must change too


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Overulling / Reversing

Overulling implies disapproval with the ratioin a previous case, either that the previous Courtdid not correctly interpret the law or because the

latter Court considers the Rule of Law containedin the previous ratio to be no longer desirable

Reversing is the overturning of a decision onappeal in the same case. It involves disapprovalof the ratio as decided by the lower Court


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Per Incuriam Statements

A decision is reachedPer Incuriamwhen it isarrived at through ignorance of the law or

through failure to refer to an earlier decision orrelevant statutory provision

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