How to analyse a court judgment

Read the disposition first

Go to the end of the judgment and read the orders. Knowing whether the appeal was allowed or dismissed, and on what terms, gives every earlier paragraph its context. It also protects against the common error of quoting a passage in which the court is summarising an argument it went on to reject.

Separate the material facts

Material facts are those the court treated as necessary to its conclusion. Strip out the narrative that merely explains how the dispute arose. The test is simple: if the fact were different, would the outcome change? If not, it is background.

Getting this right is what allows a case to be applied or distinguished later. A later court distinguishes a precedent by showing that a fact the earlier court treated as material is absent.

State the legal issues as the court framed them

Courts usually enumerate the issues, often after setting out the grounds of appeal. Use the court's framing rather than your own. Where the court declines to decide an issue — because it is unnecessary given its conclusion on another — record that expressly; that issue remains open.

Find the ratio decidendi

The ratio decidendi is the rule of law applied to the material facts on which the decision rests. It is the binding part. It is rarely announced as such, and it is usually found in the reasoning immediately preceding the court's conclusion on each issue.

Obiter dicta are statements not necessary to the decision: hypotheticals, comments on arguments not run, general observations. They can be highly persuasive, particularly from the apex courts, but they do not bind. Label them honestly. If a judgment contains no discernible obiter on the point you are researching, say nothing rather than invent a heading and fill it.

Check the composition and any dissent

Record the coram. Where a judgment is not unanimous, identify which reasoning commanded a majority; a dissent, however persuasive, is not the decision of the court. Where separate concurring judgments give different reasons for the same result, the ratio may be narrower than any single judgment suggests.

Assess reach and currency

Finally, ask two questions. How far does the decision reach — is it confined to the statutory scheme before the court, or does it state a general principle? And is it still good law — has it been overruled, or has the statute it interpreted been amended or repealed?

A disciplined case note answers, in order: court, citation, date, material facts, issues, holding, ratio, any obiter of note, and current status. If any of those cannot be established from the judgment in front of you, the honest entry is that the material was not available.