Friday, March 21, 2014

The Art of Case Digesting


Case digest is a way of summarizing cases coming from courts. These cases mainly contain decision on certain matters since the duty of our court is to settle controversy and dispute. Case digest is commonly practice among people who study law. Since case digesting shortens a very wordy case but still keeping its important details, it is but necessary to learn the proper way of doing such. But before we could start to digest a case, we must first learn the essential parts of it.
(For the purpose of this post, I will be using theoretical examples)
1 Salazar vs. ABZ Ltd.
G. R. No. 1370
June 3, 1960
2 Ponente : Trinidad, J.
3 Facts: xxx
3 Issue/s: xxx
4 Held: xxx
1. Heading - This contains the title of your case, source (GR No xxx or 21 SCRA 52) and date
2. Ponente - The name of the person who arranged the final format of the decision. It usually appears before the body of the full case begins.
3. Facts - This includes the important events or circumstances that take place in the case. It must be noted that the names of persons involved and necessary dates and places must be mentioned in this part.
4. Issue - The matter brought upon the court for its resolution. It is possible that several issues are present in a single case. Your issue would now depend upon the subject concerned for that digest. For instance, your subject in Labor Law required you to make a digest on a particular case. However, this case aimed in resolving two issues, labor and political one. With this at hand, it is logical to say that the issue which must be chosen is the one connected to your subject.
5. Held - Also known as ruling and decision. This is the judgment given by your court which must answer the issue you listed. The legal basis in which their decision was taken must appear in this part.
Armed with the essential knowledge with respect to case digesting, you are now equipped to make a digest easily but still concisely done!

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