Contract Law

Front 1

What are the material facts in a case?

Back 1

Facts that are relevant to the decision formed in the end

Front 2

Stare decisis?

Back 2

Abiding by precedent e.g. in deciding a case a judge must follow any decision that has been made by a higher court in a case with similar facts. As well as being bound by decisions of courts above them, some courts must follow their own previous decisions.

Front 3

Ratio decendi?

Back 3

The legal principle on which a decision is based.

Front 4

Obiter decendi?

Back 4

Words in a judgement which are said “by the way” and were not the basis on which the decision was made. They do not form part of the ratio decidendi and are not binding on future cases but merely persuasive.

Front 5

Judical precendent, different parts and there definitions

Back 5

Judicial precedent - When faced with a case on which there appears to be a relevant earlier decision, the judges can do any of the following:

Follow - If the facts are sufficiently similar, the precedent set by the earlier case is followed, and the law applied in the same way to produce a decision.

Distinguish - Where the facts of the case before the judge are significantly different from those of the earlier one, then the judge distinguishes the two cases and need not follow the earlier one.

Overrule - Where the earlier decision was made in a lower court, the judges can overrule that earlier decision if they disagree with the lower courts statement of law. Outcome of earlier decision = the same, but will not be followed.

Reverse - If the decision of a lower court is appealed to a higher one, the higher court may change it if they feel the lower court has wrongly interpreted the law. Clearly when a decision is reversed, the higher court is usually also overruling the lower courts statement of the law.

Binding - when lower courts must follow decisions of higher courts.