如何写英文案情摘要.doc

How to brief the opinion of a case A judicial decision or opinion is a statement by a judge explaining why he decided the case the way he did. Since there is not a unified format of how to draft an opinion, different judges write the opinion differently, based on their personal writing styles. No matter how different the opinions may be, each opinion is expected to contain a summary of the procedural history of the case, a statement of facts, an explanation of the reasons that lead to the conclusion, and the conclusion of the decision. Components of A Judicial Decision Under the rule of stare decisis a court is bound to follow the prior decisions made by the higher courts within the same jurisdiction or by the court itself when the causes of action of the precedents are the same as the causes of action of the new case, and when the material facts of the precedents are similar as the facts before the court. However, even if a court is bound to follow a precedent, not everything said by a court in its judgment in a case has authority as precedent. The prior decision may be very long and contains various parts. A judicial opinion is composed of two main parts. One part is the proposition of law which is necessary for its decision on the facts of that particular case. Since this part carries authority as precedent and is binding under the rule of stare decisis, it is called ratio decidendi or holding of the decision. The second part is the remaining language in the opinion which is referred to as obiter dictum or dicta , which carries less weight in legal argument. Holding-ratio decidendi Holding is the part of a decision which establishes the legal principles and rules which carry binding authority under the doctrine of stare decisis. It is also called ratio decidendi. It explains the reason or ground for the decision. Thus it is very important to locate the holding of a case in order to apply the precedent rule. Sometimes the court itself will announce its holding in