Case Briefs (Court Cases)

Format for Your Brief:
Case Citation:

Body Of Your Brief:
Facts of the case: Outline the pertinent facts in the case highlighting those with bearing on or leading up to issues in the analysis and decision.  What is the nature of the litigation was the case an appeal?  What happened in the lower court prior to this appeal?  On what grounds has the case been appealed?
Issues: Outline the specific legal question(s) that was before the court.  If the court addressed multiple issues address each separately.  Your issues should be concisely stated and specific, mot generalizations.
Ratio Dicidendi: Outline the court’s reasoning behind its decision.  The ratio must address the issues cited in the previous section in order.
Court Holding: Outline the final decision of the court in this case.  What was the result of the dispute?  What is the new “rule of the case”?
Analysis: Your brief should conclude with your analysis and interpretation of the case and the decisions made by the court.  Here is where you would question the assumptions and values of the Judiciary involved in the case, the “rightness” of the decision and the logic used by the court to apply any pre-existing rules to key facts of the case.
 
What is the significance of the case?  What impact has this case had on the Court, its processes, litigants, government, or society? This analysis is your interpretation and not a summary.