Legal Definitions - law report

A law report is a formal, published record of a court's decision in a specific case. These reports typically include the facts of the case, the legal arguments presented by the parties, the court's reasoning, and its final judgment. They are compiled and published in chronological series, serving as a primary source of legal precedent that lawyers and judges use to understand and apply the law in future cases.

Here are some examples illustrating how law reports are used:

• Imagine a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, such as Miranda v. Arizona, which established the "Miranda warnings" that police must give to suspects. The official publication of this decision, found in a law report series, details the precise legal reasoning behind the Court's ruling that suspects must be informed of their rights. This law report became a foundational text, guiding law enforcement procedures and criminal defense strategies across the nation for decades.

• Consider a situation where a state's Court of Appeals rules on a dispute between a homeowner and a construction company regarding a faulty renovation. The court's decision, outlining its interpretation of the contract terms, its findings on whether a breach occurred, and the legal basis for any awarded damages, would be published in a regional law report. Lawyers in that state would then consult this report when advising other clients involved in similar construction contract disputes, using it as a guide for how courts might rule in their cases.

• Suppose a federal appeals court issues a ruling in a complex patent infringement case between two technology companies. This decision, detailing the technical arguments, the court's analysis of patent law, and its determination of whether one company's product infringed on another's patent, would be recorded in a federal law report. Intellectual property attorneys and companies in the tech industry would rely on this report to understand the boundaries of patent protection and potential infringement risks for their own innovations.