USING OF LAW REPORTING
AND JOURNALS
Anusree j
LAW REPORTING??
● LAW REPORT is a document that provides a summary and analysis of a
court case or legal decision. It is the record of a judicial decision that is
cited by lawyers and judges for their use as precedents in subsequent
cases.
● LAW REPORTING is a practise of publishing judicial opinions from court
cases in a series of books known as law reports or reporters.
● LAW REPORTING IN INDIA is a process of publishing the judgments and
decisions of courts and tribunals in India.
➢ Primarily done by government through agencies such as SCR and AIR.
SIGNIFICANCE OF LAW REPORTING
• PROVIDES A RECORD OF COURT DECISIONS AND JUDGMENTS
• A VALUABLE RESOURCE FOR LAWYERS, JUDGES , LEGAL
RESEARCHERS AND TO THE PUBLIC
• ACCURATE AND TIMELY LAW REPORTING ENSURES TRANSPARENCY,
CONSISTENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN LEGAL SYSTEM
• HELPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF LAW BY
ESTABLISHING PRECEDENTS AND GUIDING FUTURE LEGAL
PROCEEDINGS.
IMPORTANCE OF LAW REPORTING
MERITS DEMERITS
• Legal Precedents • Commercial Nature
• Access to Legal Education • Unhealthy Competition
• Transparency • Vast Cases
• Legal Scholorship • Poor Quality of Management of
• Historical Record Cases
• Inadequate Official Reports
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
• Need for standardization, accessibility and digitalization.
• Prevent opportunities for innovation and improvement.
• Leads to civil or criminal contempt
• Can scandalise the court on the ability or fairness of a judge of court
• Commercial purposes –quality is questionable;
repetitiveness and overlapping
value of precedents
Inconvenient and expensive
FORMS AND TYPES OF LAW REPORTING IN INDIA
➢ On the basis of LENGTH and LANGUAGE
● Full Text Law Reports
● Summary Reports
➢ On the basis of PUBLISHER
● Official Reports
● Non-Official Reports
➢ On the basis of GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
● All India Reports
● State Specific Reports
DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT
• A Judicial Precedent is a legally binding rule or a decision that is given by a higher court
in certain cases, which the lower courts rely on while deciding similar cases.
• Important source of law
• Serve to supplement and bridge the gaps in the legal system where they are required.
• Art 141 of the constitution stipulates that – “Law declared by the Supreme Court shall be
binding on all courts within the territory of India.”
• Kinds of Precedents :-
• Original and Declaratory; question of law that has not been decided before and the
cases where the application of existing rule of law is used.
Authoritative or Binding Precedent; established by a higher court and must be followed
by lower courts within the same jurisdiction, and
Persuasive Precedent; decisions from courts which are not binding on the court hearing
the current case but may be considered for their persuasive value.
PRECEDENT OPERATES WITHIN HIERARCHICAL
STRUCTURE
• Supreme Court Decisions – Decisions made by the Supreme Court are binding on all
lower courts throughout the country. These decisions establish precedent for lower courts
to follow.
• High Court Decisions- Decisions made by High Court are binding on lower courts within
their respective jurisdictions. They are not binding on other high courts or supreme court.
• Lower Court Decisions- Decisions made by lower courts are binding only on the parties
involved in the specific case. They may be persuasive for other similar cases heard by the
same or other lower courts.
• Foreign Precedents- Indian Courts may consider decisions form foreign jurisdictions as
persuasive precedent, especially when dealing with novel legal issues or when there is a
lack of clear domestic precedent.
THEORIES OF PRECEDENTS
• Declaratory Theory- Judicial decisions do not create new law but merely declare or
ascertain existing legal principles. In this, Judges act as neutral interpreters of law,
applying established legal rules to the facts of a case.
• Evolutionary Theory- Emphasizes the dynamic and evolving nature of law. In this,
judicial decisions contribute to the development of legal principles over time, leading to
the gradual evolution of law. Precedent is a mechanism for adapting legal rules to
changing societal norms and circumstances.
• Realist Theory- judicial decisions are influenced by a variety of factors, including
personal beliefs ,values of judges, social and political considerations. Judges play an
active role in shaping the law through their decisions.
• Functional Theory- focuses on the pragmatic purposes served by precedent in the
legal system. It serves to promote consistency, predictability and stability in legal
decision making by providing guidance to judges in similar cases.
• Critical Legal Studies Theory- critical perspective on the role of precedent. Precedent
reflects and perpetuates existing power structures and inequalities within society.
MERITS AND DEMERITS OF PRECEDENTS
MERITS DEMERITS
• Respect for Ancestral Opinions • Risk of Overlooking Authorities
• Basis in Customary Law • Conflicting Decisions
• Convenience and Efficiency • Development of Law Department
• Certainty in Law on Litigation
• Flexibility in Law • Establishment of Erroneous
Decisions as Law
• Practicality and Evolution of Law
PRINCIPLES OF PRECEDENT
A. RATIO DECIDENTI (Reason of Decision)
It refers to the binding part of a judicial decision.
Represents the legal principle or rule derived by the court from the specific facts and
circumstances of the case.
Forms the foundation of the decision and provides guidance for future cases with similar
legal issues
B. OBITER DICTA (Said by the way)
Remarks or observations made by the judge in a judicial decision that are incidental to the
main issue under consideration.
Statements do not form part of the ratio decidenti and do not have binding authority on
future cases.
May hold persuasive value and influence subsequent judicial decisions.
STARE DECISIS
• Latin- to abide by things decided
• Court refer to the previous, similar legal issues to guide their decisions. Such previous
decisions that courts refer to are known as doctrine of stare decisis.
• Creates an obligation on courts to refer to precedents when taking a certain decision.
• Art 141 of the Constitution
➢ Helps people in planning their economic and social transactions by acknowledging their
actions in compliance with law.
➢ Encourages private resolution of disputes
➢ Reduces the burden on the courts
➢ Strengthens the confidence of the people in judiciary.
DOCTRINE OF STARE DECISIS
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Reduces the need for successive litigation and • May lead to the preservation and propagation of certain
cases which might been judged wrongly.
saves time and energy of judiciary.
• Against democracy as it allows unelected judges to
• Curbs unwanted and vicious elements from
make law
affecting fair and reasonable adjudication
• Supports erroneous precedents that are moderately
• Judgements given by courts become inconsistent with constitution.
predictable and hence boosts confidence of • Chances of bias as a precedent may be amended on
the people which he has a dissenting opinion
• Inculcates flexibility in the law • May affect the proper interpretation of law as their may
be a change in the cultural, social, economic or other
• Brings stability, certainty and consistency in circumstances.
the law.
KEY FEATURES OF A GOOD LAW REPORT
• CLEAR AND CONCISE SUMMARY OF THE FACTS OF THE CASE
• LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED
• ARGUMENTS PRESENTED BY THE PARTIES
• REASING BEHIND THE COURT’S DECISION
• ALSO INCLUDE FULL TEXT OF JUDGMENT ALONG WITH RELEVANT
STATUTES AND PRECEDENTS CITED BY THE COURT.
PROCESS FOR REPORTING A LEGAL CASE IN INDIA
➢ Professional reporters
1. Attend court hearings
2. Take notes
3. Prepare a detailed report of the case
4. Viewed by editorial team of the reporting agency
5. After checks, published in a law report.
CONVENTIONAL LAYOUT OF A LAW REPORT
1. Neutral Case Citation [Link] cited in argument
2. Name of the Court [Link] of proceedings
3. Case Name [Link] of counsel
4. Law Report Case Citation [Link]
5. Date of hearing [Link]/final order
6. Judges [Link] of solicitors
7. Keywords [Link] of Law Reporters
8. Headnote
9. Summary of judgment
10. Case cited in judgment
HOW TO READ A CASE AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IT MEANS
A. WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF THE CASE.
B. FACTS OF THE CASE
C. LEGAL QUESTION
D. ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS
E. REASONING
F. ANY OTHER OPINIONS
G. CHECK WHETHER LAW FITS WITH OTHER CASES
HOW TO READ/WRITE A CITATION
[Link] v UOI(1994) 2 SCR 644
(Petitioners Name) Verses (Respondent name) (year of decision) (Volume
Number) (Publication Name)(Page Number)
LAW JOURNALS
• The word JOURNAL which is originated by Latin word Diuranils-
which means daily.
• Length, scholarly article written by experts in the field of a variety of
legal topics
• Publish research articles in theorectical foundations of law and
computation of practical technique for their implementation and
application in various sphere.
• Quicker than books
• Current indepth and theorectical analysis of a topic
BENEFITS OF JOURNALS
➢ IMPROVE YOUR WRITING SKILLS
➢ GAIN EXPERIENCE AS A RESEARCHER
➢ BUILD PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
➢ ENHANCE CREDIBILITY AS AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD
➢ GAIN EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH OTHERS AND DEVELOPING
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
➢ LEARN HOW TO WRITE FOR AN AUDIENCE OUTSIDE LAW SCHOOL
➢ LEARN HOW TO MANAGE MULTIPLE PROJECTS AT ONCE
HOW TO WRITE LAW JOURNALS
• DO YOUR RESEARCH
• INTRODUCE THE TOPIC AT THE BEGINNING
• VARY SENTENCE LENGTH – NOT TOO LONG/SHORT
• USE SIMPLE WORDS
• HEADING AND SUB HEADING
• DONOT GIVE UNNECESARY INFORMATION
• DO NOT BE BIASED
• USE YOUR OWN WORDS FOR STATISTICS AND CITE THEM
CORRECTLY
PROMINENT JOURNALS IN INDIA
1. National University of Juridical Sciences Law Review
2. National Law School of India Review
3. Indian Journal of Arbitration Law
4. Chanakya National Law University Journal
5. Nirma University Law Journal
6. Journal of Indian Law and Society
7. Pune University Jounral of Legal Studies
8. Karnataka State University Journal of Law
9. University Institute of Legal Studies Students’ Journal
10. Indian Journal of Legal Review
SOURCES OF LAW IN PRACTISE
➢ LAW REPORTING
➢ LAW JOURNALS
➢ CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATE
➢ PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
➢ LAW COMMISSION REPORT
➢ LEGAL DICTIONARY
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATE
Refers to recorded discussions, deliberations and proceedings of
Constituent Assembly which was tasked with drafting the
Constitution of India. It includes
• Speeches and interventions by members
• Discussions on draft Articles and Clauses
• Amendments proposed and Debated
• Voting Records and Outcomes
• Committee Reports and Recommendations
Debate Provide valuable insights into:
[Link] and visions of constitution’s framers
[Link] context and circumstances surrounding the drafting process
[Link] and ideological underpinnings of constitutions
[Link] and negotiations that shaped the final document
[Link] interpretation and Analysis
[Link] Research and Scholarship
[Link] the spirit and intent behind the Constitution
[Link] judicial decisions and legislative Action
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES
Discussions ,deliberations in parliamentary settings. It
involves
➢ Discussion of bills/law and policies
➢ Ministerial statements and responses
➢ Questions and Answers
➢ Motions and Resolution
➢ Amendments and Voting
Provide insight to
• Contextual Understanding
• Authoritative Insight
• Historical Significance
• Research and Analysis
• Legislative Intent
• Statutory Interpretation
• Law making process
• Policy discussions
• Ministerial statement
LAW COMMISSION REPORT
Document prepared by Law commission is
➢ Independent body to review, analyse and recommend
reforms
➢ Identify areas of law needing reform or clarification
➢ Conduct research and analysis
➢ Consult with stakeholders and experts
➢ Presents findings and recommendations for reform
➢ Provides draft legislation or proposals for implementation
Provide insight to
➢ Recommendations for law reforms
➢ Indepth Analysis
➢ Historical context
➢ Comparative perspective
➢ Expert insights
➢ Influence on legislation
➢ Academic and Judicial Citations
LEGAL DICTIONARIES
Includes
➢ Clear and Concise Definition
➢ Examples and Illustrations
➢ Cross reference to related terms and Concepts
➢ Citations to relavant cases, statutes and regulations
➢ Updates to reflect changes in Laws and Legal precedents
Prominent Law Dictionaries- Black’s Law Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary of
Law, Merriam –Webster’s Dictionary of Law, Cambridge Dictionary of Law,
Garner’s Dictionary of Legal use
Provide insight to
• Clarifying and Illuminating legal principles and
terminology
• Legal research and writing
• Court decisions and judicial reasoning
• Legislative drafting and interpretation
• Academic scholarship and Education
THANK YOU