LLAW6259 Chap.4 Reading a Reported Judgment
Reading a Reported Judgment
A law report is a primary source, and only part of it is the court
The reason a law report matters is that it contains the text of the judgment. Everything written about a case elsewhere is commentary on that text. But a report is not all judgment.
The court identifier, the case name, the catchwords, the headnote, the appeal line, the statement of facts, the solicitors and the reporter's initials are the reporter's work. Counsel's arguments are counsel's. Only the judgments and the disposition are the court speaking.
Quoting a sentence from the headnote and attributing it to the court is therefore a mistake about the document rather than about the law, and it is one a marker spots immediately.
Reported does not mean published and unreported does not mean secret
Only a few cases are reported, and the selection criterion is whether the decision raises a point of legal significance.
The rest are unreported judgments, and they can still be used: a decision may be important without having been reported yet, and transcripts are available. Where a case appears in more than one series, priority decides which to cite.
In England and Wales the order runs from the Law Reports series, meaning Appeal Cases, Chancery Division, Queen's Bench Division and Family Division, then the Weekly Law Reports, then the All England Law Reports. In Hong Kong the authorised reports are the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Reports, the Hong Kong Law Reports and Digest, and Hong Kong Cases.
Different series may carry a different emphasis and even state a different ratio, which is the practical reason the order matters.
Citation, where the brackets carry information
A citation has components and each does a job. Parties, year, volume, series, first page. The bracket rule is not a style preference: square brackets mean the year is needed to identify the volume, so Fisher v Bell is [1961] 1 Q.B.
394; round brackets mean the series is numbered continuously and the year is supplementary, so a Court of Final Appeal report is (2009) 12 HKCFAR 342 and never [2009] 12 HKCFAR 342. For a proposition, add the page and the judge: at 399 per Lord Parker C.J. Neutral citation runs alongside all of this, independent of any published report, identical in print and online.
Hong Kong uses [2024] HKCFI 790 for the Court of First Instance, [2024] HKCA 70 for the Court of Appeal and [2024] HKCFA 7 for the Court of Final Appeal, where the number is a judgment count rather than a page.
Adversarial proceedings, and two questions about proof
Hong Kong proceedings are adversarial: the parties define the dispute, gather and present the evidence and argue it, while the court decides between the cases put to it rather than investigating.
That is why a judgment answers the questions counsel raised and is often silent on a point a later reader thinks obvious. Burden of proof asks who must prove something; standard of proof asks how convinced the tribunal must be. Only two standards are known to our law, proof beyond reasonable doubt and proof on a preponderance of probability, with a criminal charge requiring the first and a civil claim the second.
The strength of evidence needed to establish a preponderance depends on the seriousness and therefore the inherent improbability of the allegation, which is cogency within one standard rather than a third standard.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Which parts of a law report are the court and which are the reporter
- 02
Reported against unreported, and why an unreported case is still usable
- 03
Priority among report series in Hong Kong and in England and Wales
- 04
The five components of a citation, and what the brackets mean
- 05
Pinpointing a page and naming the judge
- 06
Neutral citation, and why it identifies the court immediately
- 07
Adversarial proceedings and the shape they give a judgment
- 08
Burden and standard of proof, and cogency within the civil standard
Read an unfamiliar report under time pressure
- 2Name the two reporter-written elements you read first and say what each tells you.
- 2Say what you take from the statement of facts and why.
- 2Say which judgment or judgments you read, and what decides that.
Key terms
- Catchwords
- The italic index line under the case name, giving the subject terms and any statutes in play. It is the fastest way to tell whether a report is on your point.
- Headnote
- The reporter's summary of the facts followed by a paragraph beginning Held, which states the disposition and the propositions decided. It is a navigation aid and not authority.
- Statement Of Facts
- The reporter's full narrative of what happened, set out between the headnote and counsel's arguments. It is where the candidate material facts are found.
- Disposition
- The single line recording the outcome of the appeal, such as appeal dismissed, printed after the last judgment.
- Pinpoint
- The page or paragraph reference identifying exactly where in a report a quoted passage appears, written as at 399 or at paragraph 46.
- Neutral Citation
- A citation independent of any law report, giving the year, the court and the sequence number of the judgment in that year rather than a volume and page.
- Burden Of Proof
- The question of which party must prove a matter, as distinct from how convinced the tribunal must be.
- Standard Of Proof
- How convinced the tribunal must be. Two standards are known to our law: beyond reasonable doubt for a criminal charge, and a preponderance of probability for a civil claim.
- Unreported Judgment
- A decision not selected for publication in a law report. It may still be cited, and transcripts are available.
Reading a Reported Judgment FAQ
Can I cite the headnote of a case?
No. The headnote is written by the reporter rather than by the court, so it is a summary and not a judicial statement, and it is certainly not the ratio. Use it for what it is good at, which is navigation: it tells you quickly what the case decided and roughly where in the judgment the relevant passage lies. Then go to that passage in the judgment itself, quote it, pinpoint the page or paragraph and name the judge who said it.
When do I use square brackets and when round?
Square brackets where the year is needed to identify the volume, which is the case for the Law Reports series: Fisher v Bell [1961] 1 Q.B.
394. Round brackets where the series runs in a continuous sequence so that the volume number alone locates the report and the year is supplementary: (2009) 12 HKCFAR 342. Writing the Court of Final Appeal Reports with square brackets is a small error that signals you have copied a citation rather than looked at the report.
What is the difference between the burden and the standard of proof?
The burden asks who has to prove something; the standard asks how convincing the proof must be. Only two standards exist in our law, proof beyond reasonable doubt for a criminal charge and proof on a preponderance of probability for a civil claim.
The idea that a serious civil allegation attracts a heightened standard is a misdescription: what rises with the inherent improbability of the allegation is the cogency of evidence needed to satisfy the ordinary civil standard.
Assessment move
Open any reported judgment you have on hand and, without reading it, label the catchwords, the two halves of the headnote, the appeal line, the statement of facts, each judgment and the disposition. Five minutes of that once is worth more than reading three cases slowly.
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