My OperaHow to Write a Case Digest
Monday, June 4, 2012 2:26:38 AM
Law School is incomplete without cases. It has been a tradition for professors to assign tons of cases to law students for them to read, understand, and analyze. But some professors do not just assign students to read hundreds of cases, they even require students to digest the case.
And digesting case is not an ordinary task.
Digesting a case may be a new thing to first year law students since they do not have an idea what a case digest is. Perhaps, students only know of essay, features, news, articles, and the like but not a case digest.
A case digest is a written summary of a particular case. What comprises a case digest are the following:
1. Caption
- Includes the case title, decision date, citation, petitioner, respondent, and the ponente.
2. Facts
- Includes the relevant facts only.
3. Issues
- Include relevant and important issues that are usually answerable by “yes” or “no”. You can write the issues by merely asking or making use of the word “whether”.
Example: Is the ordinance unconstitutional? OR Whether or not the ordinance was unconstitutional.
- The issues you have framed must be answered in the ruling.
4. Ruling
- Includes the answers to the issues. It typically starts with a “yes” or “no”. It is then followed by the legal reasons or explanations.
5. Concurring and Dissenting Opinions
- Includes important and outstanding concurring and dissenting opinions of the judges. This part is optional but it could help if the professors are asking for them.
What is the importance of a case digest? If you have a case digest, you do not have to go back to the case just to remember the necessary details. Since all the most important facts and details are already digested, it would be easy for you to understand and remember the case.
When writing a case digest, just remember its format and you won’t be having problems.
Try to make your first case digest now.
And digesting case is not an ordinary task.
Digesting a case may be a new thing to first year law students since they do not have an idea what a case digest is. Perhaps, students only know of essay, features, news, articles, and the like but not a case digest.
A case digest is a written summary of a particular case. What comprises a case digest are the following:
1. Caption
- Includes the case title, decision date, citation, petitioner, respondent, and the ponente.
2. Facts
- Includes the relevant facts only.
3. Issues
- Include relevant and important issues that are usually answerable by “yes” or “no”. You can write the issues by merely asking or making use of the word “whether”.
Example: Is the ordinance unconstitutional? OR Whether or not the ordinance was unconstitutional.
- The issues you have framed must be answered in the ruling.
4. Ruling
- Includes the answers to the issues. It typically starts with a “yes” or “no”. It is then followed by the legal reasons or explanations.
5. Concurring and Dissenting Opinions
- Includes important and outstanding concurring and dissenting opinions of the judges. This part is optional but it could help if the professors are asking for them.
What is the importance of a case digest? If you have a case digest, you do not have to go back to the case just to remember the necessary details. Since all the most important facts and details are already digested, it would be easy for you to understand and remember the case.
When writing a case digest, just remember its format and you won’t be having problems.
Try to make your first case digest now.
