W101 Skills 1 – Reading and Understanding Case Law

© The Open University

Note that the person bringing a claim in civil court is now called the “claimant”; before 1999 the person was called the “plaintiff”. The person defending the claim is now called the “respondent”. A person appealing a decision of a lower court is called the “appellant”. See the Supreme Court’s decisions webpage for examples.

Remember too, the case is known by the names of the parties e.g. Smith v Jones which is read as Smith and Jones. NOT Smith versus Jones. In a criminal case, the case R v Jones is read as R against Jones (where R signifies the Crown – Rex if the Monarch is male and Regina if the Monarch is female).