There are thousands of legal reports around the world today, each with a clear legal citation. In England and Wales, starting with the business reports in the directories (Edward II to Henry VIII), there are various records of cases decided by the higher English courts to the present day. Until the nineteenth century, the quality of the first reports and the extent to which the judge explained the facts of the case and his verdict varied considerably, and the weight of the precedent may depend on the reputation of the judge and the journalist. These reports are of great academic interest today because they have been overtaken by legislation and subsequent developments, but there are still binding precedents that are often expressed very convincingly. [9] Law Report, at common law, published an account of a court decision cited by lawyers and judges for its use as a precedent in subsequent cases. The report of a decision usually contains the title of the case, a statement of the facts giving rise to the dispute and its history before the court. It then reflects the opinion of the court and ends with the judgment of the court, which confirms or reverses the judgment of the next court. The report on a modern decision is usually preceded by an executive summary of the opinion, called the guiding principle, which indicates the points decided. In addition, many courts use the Internet to publish their judgments directly online, usually opting for a neutral citation. Legal reports published by companies in print or electronic form are usually very expensive and out of reach, even for many lawyers, which greatly increases the appeal of online publication directly by the courts. Paul is responsible for product development and online content at ICLR – the leading provider of legal advice for England and Wales. This summary of reasoning is a unique feature of ICLR Law Reports (no other English series contains them regularly) and is only possible because ICLR rapporteurs regularly appear before the courts during the hearing and hearing of cases and not only during the delivery of judgments. Once the rapporteur has prepared an argument note, a copy is sent to the lawyer in question so that he can verify and approve its accuracy.
The identity of the judge and the court in which the hearing took place is an essential element of any legal opinion. If it is possible, in the consideration of a case, to characterize it as a “decision of the Court of Appeal” or to mention that a particular case has been “set aside by the House of Lords” in a subsequent appeal, no report on the relevant decision of the Court of Appeal or the House of Lords can be invoked. in which the “constitution” of the Court was not indicated. that is, listing the names of the judges who sit on the bench, even if they have not all decided. The following is a more detailed explanation of all the different elements of a modern full-text legal report, as published in The Law Reports, in the order in which they appear. As an illustration, it would be helpful at this point to open a copy of a full-text legal report or watch the Learnmore Talking essay on the anatomy of the legal report. If a judgement has been reserved, this should not be indicated directly at the end of the hearing, but in the report. (For more information, see Judgment below.) Historically, the term journalist has been used to refer to the people who compile, edit and publish such opinions. [1] For example, the reporter of U.S.
Supreme Court decisions is the person authorized to publish the Court`s cases in the bound volumes of the United States Reports. Today, in American English, Reporter also refers to the books themselves. [2] In Commonwealth English, these are described by the plural term Law Reports, the title that usually appears on the covers of journal sections and individual volumes. These case lists are commonly referred to as “block lists”. Report references for cases where more than one such reference is available are listed in order of citation status, indicating first the reference of the legal reports (as it must be cited against any other version), followed by weekly legal reports, specialized series published by the ICLR, and then various series. such as the All England Law Reports and Lloyd`s Law Reports of other publishers. It is also in this order that these references are presented in the consolidated index, which indexes all reports published in these and some other widely used series. In some older reports, the facts are also summarized here and are not fully reflected in the judgment from which they are drawn, so that only the part of the judgment dealing with the law and its application to the facts is reproduced. Where the name of the rapporteur is given in full, it shall be supplemented by the word `barrister `or `solicitor`; but for ICLR journalists, who have been formally appointed to report on certain tribunals, and whose names and qualifications are listed at the beginning of the published volume, only their initials are indicated on the report itself. While maritime affairs often have a contractual or tortious element and are reported in standard volumes, the standard source for maritime affairs is Lloyd`s Law Reports, which covers issues such as maritime issues such as the carriage of goods by sea, international trade law and admiralty law.
However, questions remain about the need for a uniform and convenient citation format for cases published on the Internet (compared to the standard volume and page number used for printed legal reports). [5] In addition, the departure from the traditional “official-commercial” printed statement model raises questions about the accuracy, authority and reliability of Internet jurisprudence. [5] The answer to these questions is largely determined by the evolution of government information policy and the degree of influence of commercial database providers in global legal information markets. There are also generalist journalists, such as the long-standing Dominion Law Reports, who publish cases of national importance. Other legislative reports include Canadian Criminal Cases, the Canadian Criminal Compendium, the Ontario Report and the Quebec Legal Reports. [6] [7]:29 is a term in medical jurisprudence in which physicians must report all injuries that appear to have been inflicted of a criminal nature, such as gunshot wounds. Then came the period from 1934 to 1956, when the famous Court of Appeal of the East African Law Reports (E.A.L.R.) was born. These reports included a total of twenty-three volumes, which were also compiled by judges and magistrates, a Registrar of the Supreme Court and a Registrar of the Court of Appeal for East Africa.