1. English for Lawyers 1 Lecturer: Miljen Matijašević
G10, room 6/I, Tue 11:30-12:30
Session 6

2. Today’s session Revision of the last session The Doctrine of Precedent
Vocabulary work
Case study

3. Revision of the last session
The British Judiciary

4. Answer these questions
Outline the system of civil courts in the UK.
Outline the system of criminal courts in the UK.
Who are justices of the peace?
What was the highest court in the UK before 2009?
Who is responsible for judicial appointments?

5. The Doctrine of Precedent
Unit 5

6. The Doctrine of Precedent
The foundation of the common law system
Judge-made law – court rulings that have the strength of the law
It can have the same importance as the law enacted by Parliament (Parliament-made law)
It can react more quickly to insufficiently clear legislation or make up for the unexpected circumstances of a case, not provided for in statutes

7. The Doctrine of Precedent
The principle of precedent is also known as stare decisis (‘to stand by decisions’)
This means that a judge will consider previous similar cases with matching circumstances and abide by the ruling (judicial precedent) arrived at in the previous trial
The aim is to be consistent in the points of law, derived from the facts of the case
If fact or circumstance A was relevant in reaching decision X, then a new case featuring fact or circumstance A must be ruled in the same way, i.e. follow decision X

8. The Doctrine of Precedent
The key criterion in abiding by judicial precedents is the hierarchy of courts
As a rule – a decision made by a higher court will become a BINDING precedent for the lower courts and on the higher court itself
A BINDING precedent – that which must be followed

9. The Court System

10. The Doctrine of Precedent
Rulings made by lower courts (Magistrates’ Courts, the County Court, the Crown Court) are not binding, but may be considered as PERSUASIVE (having good grounds and possibly helping to reach a decision in the case at hand)
Decisions (precedents) made by courts in other common law countries may also be considered in adjudication, but are only treated as PERSUASIVE

11. The Doctrine of Precedent
The decisions of the Supreme Court of the UK (or formerly the House of Lords) are BINDING on ALL lower courts, except on the SC itself
Justices of the Supreme Court can OVERRULE a precedent established by their predecessors

12. The Doctrine of Precedent
ORIGINAL PRECEDENT – that which creates a new rule of law
DECLARATORY PRECEDENT – that which merely applies an already existing rule of law

13. The Doctrine of Precedent
THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF A JUDGMENT:
Ratio decidendi (reason for the decision) – the part of the ruling which states the legal principle applied in the ruling – treated as BINDING, if applicable
Obiter dicta (things said by the way) – the remaining part of the judgment explaining cases cited and legal principles argued before the court – considered PERSUASIVE
Precedents recorded in Law Reports and other sources (other collections of court rulings, specialized journals, etc.)

14. The Doctrine of Precedent
Ways to treat a precedent:
CITE a precedent, a case – bring a precedent to the attention of the court
FOLLOW – establish that the principles applied in the precedent correspond to the case in hand and abide by the precedent
DISTINGUISH THE CASE – find that the facts of the case are different and that the same principles, i.e. precedent cannot or should not be applied

15. The Doctrine of Precedent
An appellate court can:
APPROVE – accept a precedent/decision
OVERRULE (the principle of law)
REVERSE (the decision of a lower court)

16. The Doctrine of Precedent
In litigation...
Attorneys’ (solicitors and barristers’) task is to CITE precedents and either try to DISTINGUISH the case at hand from potential binding precedents, or establish that the points of law established in a precedent are APPLICABLE to the case at hand
This is done depending on the interest of the client
The art of PERSUASION is crucial to the work of attorneys

17. The Doctrine of Precedent
ADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE
Consistency in application and predictability of the outcome of cases
Flexibility – easy adaptation to new circumstances (when statutes do not provide an answer, creating a new precedent provides for future rulings in similar cases; e.g. Do silent phone calls represent harrassment?)
Age-long recording of cases provides for a huge amount of details, circumstances, points of law, that enhance precision in the creating of law

18. The Doctrine of Precedent
DISADVANTAGES OF THE DOCTRINE
May restrict judicial decisions and lead to illogical conclusions by judges
Can be difficult to understand what exactly the ratio decidendi was
Increasing complexity and volume of precedents, makes it difficult and impractical do deal with cases

19. declaratory precedent
Key terms
binding precedent
persuasive precedent
original precedent
declaratory precedent
ratio decidendi
obiter dicta
stare decisis
follow a precedent overrule a precedent cite a precedent distinguish the case approve a decision overrule a decision reverse a decision

20. Vocabulary work
The Doctrine of Precedent

21. Complete the table with the words from the same family
Vocabulary work
Complete the table with the words from the same family
VERB
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
Cite
Citation -
Apply
Precede
Persuasion
Bind

22. Complete the table with the words from the same family
Vocabulary work
Complete the table with the words from the same family
VERB
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
Cite
Citation -
Apply
Application
Applicable
Precede
Precedent
Preceding
Persuade
Persuasion
Persuasive
Bind
Binding, bound

23. BIND - PERSUADE – APPLY – CITE
Vocabulary work
BIND - PERSUADE – APPLY – CITE
That decision of the Court of Appeal is going to be on the case we’ve got at trial just now.
We need to be able to convince the judge that the rule in Meah v Roberts is to this case.
Can you check the case ? I think the year is wrong.
Should we add to our argument that Edwards v Peck is a precedent given the legal issues, although the judge isn’t to follow it as it comes from a lower court?

24. Vocabulary work
That decision of the Court of Appeal is going to be BINDING on the case we’ve got at trial just now.
We need to be able to convince the judge that the rule in Meah v Roberts is APPLICABLE to this case.
Can you check the case CITATION? I think the year is wrong.
Should we add to our argument that Edwards v Peck is a PERSUASIVE precedent given the legal issues, although the judge isn’t BOUND to follow it it as it comes from a lower court?

25. Case study

26. Chester v Afshar [HL 2004] FACTS OF THE CASE
Miss Chester was referred to Dr Afshar, a neurological expert. She had been suffering from lower back pain for 5 years. He told her that surgery was a solution. She suffered a complication, and her condition worsened.
TORT LAW – CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE
Required elements – negligent act and causation (causal link between the act and the damage)

27. Chester v Afshar [HL 2004] FIRST-INSTANCE TRIAL
The judge found that dr Afshar did not inform Miss Chester of the 1-2% risk of these operations going wrong.
ISSUE: even though the operation might have gone wrong anyhow, was there a causal link between the complications and the fact that Dr Afshar failed to inform her of the risks

28. Chester v Afshar [HL 2004] FIRST-INSTANCE TRIAL
The judge found that there was a causal connection between the failure to inform and Miss Chester's injuries - if she had been informed, she would have sought further advice or alternatives.
APPEAL TO THE COURT OF APPEAL
Decision of the HCJ upheld

29. Chester v Afshar [HL 2004] THE HOUSE OF LORDS
3 Lords upheld the decision of the CA
2 Lords dissented

30. Chester v Afshar [HL 2004] THE HOUSE OF LORDS
Lord Steyn, Lord Hope and Lord Walker held that causation was proved
it was the duty of the doctor to warn her
a basic principle of good medical practice is that adults should consent on a fully informed basis to surgery, aware of all risks
Dr Afshar had violated her right to choose
They held that if damages were not awarded, that duty to inform the patient of the risks would be a hollow one

31. Chester v Afshar [HL 2004]
THE HOUSE OF LORDS – DISSENTS (Bingham and Hoffman)
Lord Bingham felt that even though Dr Afshar had been found not to have informed Miss Chester about the 1-2% risk of surgery failure, this did not mean that causation had been shown.
It was necessary to say that if Miss Chester had been informed of the risk, that she would not have undertaken the operation at all.
The risk was inherent in surgery, no matter who performed it.

32. Thank you for your attention!