LAW REPORTS

SOMALATHA MOLY T S
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
RAMAIAH COLLEGE OF LAW, BENGALURU.
 LAW REPORTS

• Online databases (Hein Online, LexisNexis, Westlaw)

• To avoid over-citation of unimportant decisions – Courts anxious to limit the

citation of authorities to those which are “relevant and useful”.

• Semi-official reports published by ‘Incorporated Council of Law Reporting’

selecting judicial decisions for reporting based on– Lindley Principles

Lindley Principles: 1863 – Nathaniel Lindley

Care should be taken to exclude:

1. Cases that pass without discussion or consideration, and which are valueless

as ‘precedents’

2. Cases that are substantially repetitions of what is reported already

Lindley Principles ………………………………………………………………….(contd.)

Care should be taken to include:

1. Cases that introduce, or appear to introduce, a new principle or a new rule

2. Cases that materially modify an existing principle or rule

3. Cases that settle or materially tend to settle, a question upon which the law is
doubtful

4. Cases which for any reason are particularly instructive

 STRUCTURE OF A LAW REPORT

• Catchwords – indicating briefly what the case is about – enables the reader to
make sure at a glance that the case is relevant to their current concern.

• Headnote – a summary written by the reporter , short facts of the case – useful
as a guide to the content of the judgments – occasionally inaccurate

• Judgment: Read at least one of the majority judgments in whole or part – read
the argument of the lost side & dissenting judgment (if any) to appreciate both
sides of the questions
The Commercially Published & Specialist Law Reports:

• verbatim reproduction of court decisions

• Summary of arguments – not available

• Can’t be cited in Courts

• Convenient to access if Law Reports are not available

• Eg. All England Law Reports (All E.R.), The Times Law Reports (T.L.R.), Cox’s Criminal
Cases (Cox), the Criminal Appeal Reports (C.A.R. or Cr. App. R.), Justice of the Peace
Reports (J.P.)

• Brief Reports: Criminal Law Review (Crim.L.R.) Industrial Cases Reports, Industrial
Relations Law Reports, Housing Law Reports, Entertainment and Media Law Reports
How to find a reference:

• Electronic data base – using the name or citation

• Law Reports Index (known as Law Reports Digest till 1949)– references

• Recent cases – Weekly Law Reports

• Even more recent cases – Current Law

• All England Reports Consolidated Tables and Index

 Title of Cases

• R. v Sikes – Rex/Regina versus Sikes

• Civil Cases: Rylands v Fletcher – by names of the parties

• Appeal: Appellant v Respondent – changes

• “v” pronounced as “and” in civil cases

• In re: “in the matter of” – eg. In re Smith – also Re Smith

• Ex parte (Ex. p.): “on the application of”

• Mc Alister (or Donoghue) v Stevenson and Hay (or Bourhill) v Young: married
name & maiden name – Donoghue v Stevenson and Bourhill v Young
Square and Round Brackets

Stanley v Powell (1890) 60 L.J.Q.B. 52.

Stanley v Powell [1890] 1 Q.B. 86.

• [---- ] – Year is the indispensable part of the reference to the case

• (----) – Year is not an indispensable part of the reference to the case

• 1st citation has a volume number, 2nd citation doesn’t.

• 1st citation – date of pronouncement of judgment; 2nd citation – date of

reporting (customarily adopted as the date of case)
• The number mentioned at the end of each citation is a unique number assigned

by the official shorthand writers to each approved judgment

• No page numbers in the judgements themselves

Eg. Williams v Davies, the tenth numbered judgment of the year in the Civil

Division will now be cited as : William v Davies [2016] EWCA Civ 10 at [59] (or

whatever paragraph is being cited)

Two-Page References

• [1892] 1 Q.B. 273, 291 or [1892] 1 Q.B. 273 at 291

• 273 – the page where the case begins, 291 – the particular passage referred

ABBREVIATIONS

Indices to legal abbreviations:

• Raistrick’s Index of Legal Abbreviations and Citations, Cardiff Index to Legal

Abbreviations , Halsbury's Laws of England, Current Law, Index to Legal
Periodicals, Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases, World Dictionary
of Legal Abbreviations