If you are a Casebank Research Associate and are currently putting together a Casefile, you must adhere to the Casebank Formatting Policy. This is to maximise ease of use for our readers, and to ensure that Casebank maintains a professional and consistent look throughout.
General
- Times New Roman
- AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY PAGE, remember to put as a folder (in Times New Roman):
- Horizontal line (with gap to text above at 1 inch)
- “Judgement courtesy of the BAILII – [web link to judgement] / Westlaw – [web link to judgement]”
- If paragraph or page numbers of a law report are included: “Page numbers reference report [citation], e.g. ‘[1954] 1 WLR 34”
- CHECK there is no unnecessary spacing (e.g. judge’s name on another page to where their judgement begins)
Colour code for bookmarks
- Facts – Yellow
- Issue – Green
- Ratio – Light blue (if there is more than one ratio, assign that second ratio a separate colour)
- Judge names – Dark Blue
- Setting out the law – Pink (make sure to begin your sub-heading with ‘The Law – X’
- Criticisms – Red
- Any other issues that consecutively arise, assign a continuous colour to them (e.g. Objective not subjective assessment – Orange)
Headnote
- Case name and date in size 14 and bold
- Horizontal line
- ‘Headnote’ in bold
- One line summary of the court deciding the case and what the case concerned
- Set out the facts of the case (briefly with only relevant information)
- Issue of the case
- If there was a previous ruling by a lower court (CofA) that is a highly significant to the current judgement (HofL) provide quick summary of this and its significance
- Court’s decision and the ratio of the case
- Significance of the decision
- Appellate history – indented arrow with court (High Court, Court of Appeal etc.), whether the decision was approved or rejected (‘Decision Approved’ in green/’Decision Rejected’ in red), and if certain issues were approved and others rejected
- The topic/topics of the case
- Related cases and authorities (See: all cases/legislation in bold)
- Horizontal line
Headnote Marking Up
- Bookmark facts and put link to where it is located in the judgement
- Bookmark issue and put link to where it is located in the judgement
- Bookmark ratio and put link to where it is located in the judgement
- Colour code bookmarks
Judgement
- Attempt to use the pdf judgement from BAILII and edit that document – if this is not available / not editable, then copy and paste the judgement into a document and then follow the instructions below
- Citation top left corner size 11
- Space
- Horizontal line – Case name below in bold, all caps and in size 14 in centre of page (appellant, in line down ‘-V-‘, line down respondent) – horizontal line below
- Then the word judgement (not in bold) in size 11 under horizontal line in centre of page
- Judges’ names in all caps and in bold
- Any other authorities (legislative or case law) in bold
- For titles within judgement (e.g. ‘The Law’ or ‘Issue 1’) use italics
- Use paragraph numbers used in law reports
- If no paragraph numbers, put judgement’s actual page numbers throughout judgement (will find in green on Westlaw for example) – e.g. *493
Judgement Marking Up
- If more than one judge, bookmark their name in ALL CAPS – then indent any bookmarks within their specific judgement (either put three dashes ‘—‘ or create sub folder)
- Highlight in green any relevant text – then attach comment on the side explaining its meaning and significance to both the case and wider legal context
- Limit use of bookmarks to most important points
- Colour code bookmarks
- Turn on page numbers
Table of Contents
- At the end of the document insert a table of contents outlining all of the bookmarks, highlight, comments and links
- Rename it ‘Table of Annotations’
Rubric
- In the desk space, insert the rubric on how to read a Case Bank document
