How to Read a Case Law Report

The challenge with reading case law reports is that the language they use can be quite complicated and confusing. Because of the lengthy sentences with complex legal reasoning of the judges and the technical terms that are different in every case many students give up on reading case law reports in their course altogether. They have trouble understanding who the parties in the case are, what the case is about, and the rulings of the judge. But as hard as it is, reading case law reports is an important skill which you might be forced to use during your degree, for example if you are set an assignment question about one specific case. Also, learning how to read case reports will prepare you to practice law in real life. Here are a few useful tips that will help you read case law reports and understand them more easily.

Step 1: Read about the case in a revision guide or textbook

The first thing you can do instead of directly picking up the case report is to try to get information about the case from some other sources that explain it in an easier language. For example, many revision notes and guides discuss law reports using simple language, so you have a better chance of understanding what the case is about. Those types of resources will give you the information you need to grasp what the case report is about even before reading it. Once you have an understanding of the key issues in the case, you will find it much easier to dig into the case report.
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NOTE: Make sure to check out the 1st Class Revision Notes if you are looking for easy-to-understand revision guides on different law subjects.

Step 2: Understand the facts well

Once you start reading the case report, focus first on making sure that you understand the facts of the case very well. These are usually at the beginning of the case report. Typically, case reports contain plenty of details about what happened to both parties in the case. This can be quite overwhelming, and it might tempt you to skip through to the judgement. But if you try to read the arguments put forward by both sides or the judgement(s) in the case without having a good understanding of the facts, you will likely get even more confused.

​While reading through the facts of the case, try to tease out the most important information. You should write 2-3 sentences explaining what happened in the case. If after the first 2-3 sentences you still feel like you want to keep writing, then you haven't done a good enough job of teasing out the most important information. Of course, if you followed Step 1, you will likely have read the key facts of the case in a revision guide or textbook, and your job now will be that much easier. All that you will have to do now is supplement the information in the revision guide or textbook with a few more details.

Things you need to focus on include:
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• Who are the parties in the case?
• What actually happened to them, from the perspective of each party?
•  Which party is being sued/prosecuted?
• Which party is suing/prosecuting?

Step 3: Identify the arguments of both parties

Once you know who the parties are and what their case is against each other, it is time to review their legal arguments. You have to keep in mind that not every argument is a legal argument. There are many things that make sense from a logical and rational point of view, but you cannot present them in court because they don't have any weight in the eyes of the law. So, focus on identifying what legal questions the parties are posing.
When reading the arguments put forward by both parties, your job is to try to evaluate them. In order to do that, first you need to read the legal arguments presented by both parties thoroughly and make sure that you understand them well. Then, it is time to look at the arguments more critically and analyse their strengths and weaknesses. In order to do that, try to think about the arguments as if you were a judge. Here are some questions that a judge would ask themselves:
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• Which argument seems stronger than the others? Why?
• Which argument seems weaker than the others? Why?
• Does it feel like the party could have made a better argument?
• Overall, which party had stronger arguments?
• Overall, which party had weaker arguments?
• Are the counter-arguments made by both parties reasonable?
  
  

If you notice any weaknesses or flaws, note them down and discuss them later on with other law students or your lecturer. In the end, you should be able to understand how the suing party is arguing their case and how the defending party is attempting to counter or weaken those arguments with their own.

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Step 4: Find the decision in the case

The decision in a case is the ultimate, conclusive judgement made by the court in a particular case. You can typically find it at the end of the case report. It is relatively easy to figure out what the decision is where there is only one judge in the case. But where there is a panel of judges, things can get quite complicated. For example, the judgements made by some of the judges might actually be against the final decision in the case. When this happens, the judge who disagrees is in the minority. However, their disagreement must still be acknowledged within the case report, because it might be helpful to the parties in some other dispute in the future.
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Minority judgements cannot become a ratio decidendi of the case, but they can definitely be persuasive in future disputes. Moreover, different judges have different ways of evaluating arguments and evidence. This is why they may reach different conclusions despite everything else being the same. But the final decision in the case will always follow majority of the judgements which agree with each other. Understanding this will definitely help you get better at reading case law reports.

Step 5: Skim through the judgements

Many students, in their attempt to be thorough, try to read the entire judgement provided in the case report. More often than not, judgements contain a lot of information that is purely technical or include ancillary notes by the judge that are not that relevant to the decision in the case. These things can distract and even confuse you while you are trying to make sense of everything and connect the dots.

Instead of attempting to read the whole judgement, just skim read through it first and highlight the parts that seem to be relevant to the decision. Then, only read those specific parts. As you already know the facts and circumstances of the case as well as the arguments made by both the parties from the revision guide or a textbook, it will be easier for you to develop a thorough enough understanding of the judgement by reading in detail only the highlighted parts of it.

Final word

Case law reports intimidate many law students, primarily due to the legal jargon and technical language used in the reports. By adopting this smart strategy, you can overcome that challenge and ensure that you understand all the facts, parties, arguments, and judgements of the case. If you are passionate about law, reading case law reports can be quite enjoyable as well as a great learning experience. You just need to make sure you do it the easy way!

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