Write the Application Process of a Case Brief
A case brief is a summary of the facts, the court's decision and how the court reached its decision in a particular case. Case briefs are most commonly associated with law school, where a student must read several cases for each class session and be prepared to discuss each case at a moment's notice. The most important section of a case brief is the application section, which describes why the court came to a particular conclusion, rather than merely stating what the court's conclusion was.
Instructions
1. Write the rule or rules of law that the court used to decide an issue in the case. If the court used more than one rule to decide a particular issue, include all of those rules. For example, trespassing is the intentional entry onto the land of another. A second rule might be that the plaintiff is not required to show that the defendant intended to enter the plaintiff's land.
2. Write a brief description of how the court applied the rule or rules to the facts of the case. For example, "As to the claim for trespass, the defendant entered the plaintiff's land by mistake, believing that the land belonged to defendant. The defendant entered the land as a shortcut to reach the main road. The court found that because a plaintiff is not required to show that the defendant intended to enter the plaintiff's land, the defendant's mistaken belief that the defendant owned the land was no excuse. Because the defendant intended to use the land as a shortcut to reach the main road, the court found that the defendant intended to enter the land."
3. Write what the court's decision was regarding that particular issue. For example, "The court held that the defendant was liable for trespassing on plaintiff's land."
4. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 for each remaining issue decided by the court. For example, if the plaintiff had also sued for assault and for negligence, write a separate application section for assault and a separate application section for negligence.
Tags: that defendant, defendant intended, plaintiff land, application section, defendant intended enter, intended enter