AC / WLR
Names of law report series. AC = Appeal Cases, WLR = Weekly Law Reports. In "[1932] AC 562", 1932 is the year, AC the series, 562 the page.
Reading items 1 and 2.
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Vocabulary
Glossary
Every term as it actually came up, with the sentence it came up in. The context is the point — a word is easier to keep when you can see where you met it.
binding / persuasive
Binding = the court has no choice, it must follow. Persuasive = the court may follow if convinced. Ratio binds; obiter persuades.
The distinction the whole week turns on.
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Discuss
An essay instruction, not a polite invitation. It means: take a position, argue it, and deal with the strongest objection to it. Do not merely describe both sides.
The last word of the Week 1 question.
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distinguishing
Arguing that an earlier case does not apply here, because its material facts are different. The main way a court escapes a precedent without overruling it.
One of your three Level 1 exit tests: distinguish a case on its facts, unprompted.
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edn
Short for edition, in a citation. "(17th edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2020)" = the 17th edition, published by Sweet & Maxwell in 2020.
Reading item 3.
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formalism
The opposite view: that rules genuinely decide cases, and applying them is a mechanical exercise.
Same chapter title as above.
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HL
House of Lords — until 2009 the highest court in the UK. Replaced by the Supreme Court (UKSC).
"Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL)".
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judgment
The court's decision and reasons. Note the spelling: in law it is judgment, never judgement.
Every case you will read.
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material facts
The facts that actually mattered to the outcome. Changing one would change the decision. Facts that are not material are ignored when finding the ratio.
"the ratio is fixed by the material facts and the decision on them" — the orthodox position.
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obiter dictum
Anything a judge says that was not necessary to the decision. Not binding — only persuasive. Plural: obiter dicta. Often just "obiter".
The natural opposite of ratio; you cannot define one without the other.
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overruling
A higher court declaring that an earlier decision was wrong and is no longer law. Stronger than distinguishing.
Socratess holds that "the existence of overruling proves something was fixed."
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Practice Statement 1966
The announcement by which the House of Lords freed itself to depart from its own past decisions. Before it, it was bound by them forever.
Reading item 2, and Week 2's whole topic.
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precedent
The rule that courts must follow the decisions of higher courts in similar cases. "The doctrine of precedent."
"Is the doctrine of precedent a myth?"
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ratio decidendi
The part of a judgment that is actually binding on later courts — the legal reason the case was decided as it was. Latin: "the reason for deciding". Often shortened to the ratio.
The whole Week 1 question: "The ratio decidendi of a case is not what the deciding court laid down."
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rule-scepticism
The view that legal rules do not really decide cases — judges decide, then dress it up as rules.
Hart, ch. 7, "Formalism and Rule-Scepticism". Socratess calls it "a disappointed absolutism".
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speech
In the House of Lords, a judge's judgment was called a speech, not a judgment. A false friend — it is a written legal ruling, not a talk.
"Lord Atkin's speech in full" — reading item 1.
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stare decisis
The formal name for the doctrine of precedent. Latin: "to stand by things decided".
The underlying principle the Week 1 question attacks.
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17 terms.