Common law and precedent
Understand how court decisions create and develop legal principles and how precedent differs from legislation.
Learn
Common law develops through judicial decisions. The authority of a case depends on the court, the legal issue decided and whether the relevant reasoning is binding or persuasive. Legislation can modify or replace common-law rules. Reading a case means separating facts, issue, decision and the legal principle necessary to the decision.
See it
A High Court decision on a legal principle carries very different weight from a social-media summary, an overseas case or a lower-court decision on different facts.
Try it
Summarise a reported case under four headings: facts, issue, result, principle.
Complete the mission
Find one Australian case relevant to a topic and produce a four-part case brief.