Matthew, all

This is a most interesting discussion.

In Ireland, written judgments are usually published in the Superior
Courts, our High Court (including the Central Criminal Court) Supreme
Court and Court of Criminal Appeal.

Oral judgments are also sometimes delivered.

Except in special cases, judgments must be delivered in public and can
therefore be transcribed by the parties (or presumably by an
interested third party).

The publication of written judgments is, it has to be said, haphazard
and some judgments can wait weeks or even months before publication on
the Courts website.

At Circuit and District ("lower court") level, written judgments are
unusual. Even if a written judgment is produced it is rarely
published.

This is lamentable, since those courts (especially the circuit court)
deal with very important and complex issues, such as many revenue
matters and many issues of landlord and tenant law.

On a separate issue, I was struck by Matthew's account of Federal
Courts in the US purporting to restrict the precedential value of
their judgments. On what basis is this done and are such statements in
fact respected by later courts and lawyers? In other words, do later
courts ignore the statement that the decision should not be relied on
and refer to it anyway?

Ger

On 2/25/14, Harrington Matthew P. <matthew.p.harrington@umontreal.ca> wrote:
> I know in the American context written judgements are routine, but not
> required. In fact, in some cases, federal courts will permit the release of
> a written opinion, but it will bear a notation that it may not be published
> in a law report or cited as precedent. I suppose in effect it decides the
> case before the court but that's it.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
> Matthew P. Harrington
> Professeur
> Faculté de droit
> Université de Montréal
> Montréal, Québec
> 514.343.6105
> matthew.p.harrington@umontreal.ca
> ----------------------------------------------
>
> De : Lionel Smith, Prof. [mailto:lionel.smith@mcgill.ca]
> Envoyé : 25 février 2014 09:48
> À : Peter Radan; obligations@uwo.ca
> Objet : Re: Written Judgements
>
> I once read a book entitled The History and Origin of the Law Reports, which
> includes several passages from evidence given to that committee by Lord St.
> Leonards:
>
> "The Judges cannot be required to write their judgments; that must be left
> to their own discretion."
>
> "It is not probable that there will hereafter be more than one Report of the
> proceedings of each Court."
>
> "... any man who wants an old Report which is not on his own shelves, is
> sure to find it in the library of his Inn."
>
> Lord St. Leonards, submission to a Committee of the Bar inquiring into the
> system of law reporting, 12 February 1864; quoted in W.T.S. Daniel, The
> History and Origin of the Law Reports (London: W. Clowes and Sons Ltd.,
> 1884) at 102-103.
>
> Lionel
>
>
>
> From: Peter Radan <peter.radan@mq.edu.au<mailto:peter.radan@mq.edu.au>>
> Date: Tuesday, 25 February 2014 at 8:58
> To: ODG <obligations@uwo.ca<mailto:obligations@uwo.ca>>
> Subject: Written Judgements
>
> Colleagues,
>
> This is a query not specifically focussed on obligations. It has to do with
> court judgments being in some written form and court reporting.
>
> On page 1216 of the Volume XI of The Oxford History of the Law of England
> (2010), there is reference to a claim made in in The Times of London to the
> effect that, in the 1880s or thereabouts, '99 percent of [common law]
> judgments were still unwritten'.
>
> On the following page there is mention of the failure of a committee, set up
> to look into the publication of authorised reports of cases, to pass a
> motion calling for the introduction of a requirement that all judgments be
> written, 'so far as practical'.
>
> This brings me to my question: When, if ever, did the requirement that
> judgments be in written form come into force?
>
> If anybody can shed any light on this with respect to their own
> jurisdictions, I would be most grateful.
>
> Many thanks in advance.
>
> Peter Radan
>
> --
> Professor Peter Radan
> Macquarie Law School
> Faculty of Arts
> Macquarie University NSW 2109
> AUSTRALIA
>
> Tel: +61 (0)2 9850-7091
> Fax: +61 (0)2 9850-7686
> Email: peter.radan@mq.edu.au<mailto:peter.radan@mq.edu.au>Colleagues,
>