One of the cases I argued recently was reported. I just got the citation today and looked it up online. I noted that the publishers had edited the final Judgement (nothing in substance though), a copy of which I also have.
The modifications were not major, but at one part, the Bench quoted at length from an earlier case, that quotation is gone, although the substance is there,
I’ve always assumed they are entirely unabridged but I must say I’ve never checked.
As did I. Until now.
In Australia, never for High Court decisions, and sometimes for intermediate court decisions, but not without a note saying something like " His Honour continued with matters irrelevant to this report". When it happens, which is not often, it is usually something like a case where ther was a conviction point and a sentence point. The only interesting part was the conviction point.
I’ve never seen an actual quote culled without any hint.
By the way, go you for getting in the reports. You are now officially immortal. What was the point about?
It never occurred to me that this might be a thing. I just went and looked at one of the decisions I regularly cite and the only difference in the reported version is the formatting of one case citation (the court underlined “see” and the reporter italicized it.)
I should note that there is no “official” reporter for Florida appellate decisions. All appellated cases are reported by the Southern Reporter, which is the de facto official reporter, as the courts cite to it.
ETA: our trial court decisions are not reported at all. If you need a trial opinion you have to ask the court clerk for it.
Moderator Action
While there is a factual question here (are case texts edited), this is also informally polling for personal experience, which makes it better suited to IMHO.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
Thanks. It was an Appeal of an Judgement dismissing a Petition for Judicial Review. The points were
Did the licensees of land enjoy protections under the Easements Act, after a Government policy decision to dispose of the said land
Ans: Yes. The Court below erred in holding they did not, Government owned lands are not necessarily Public Lands (in this case, they were not) , and therefore Easements Act applies. Reversed.
Really really exciting stuff. What law students day dream about.
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
our trial court decisions are not reported at all. If you need a trial opinion you have to ask the court clerk for it.
[/QUOTE]
Ours are not either, with the exception of 6he vanishingly rare occassion when the Superior Courts have Original Juridiction.
I haven’t discovered modern reporters that edit cases although I haven’t looked too closely. Were you comparing the slip opinion to the published opinion? Some judges will do a final edit of their slip opinions before submitting them for publication. I don’t know which state your practicing in, but you may be able to check the court docket for an updated or revised opinion that ties to the published opinion.
In Indiana when an appellate opinion is handed down, the Clerk sends it directly to the parties, but it’s not certified until the deadlines for filing petitions for rehearing, transfer, and review have passed. I assumed that then the certified opinion was shipped to the publisher. I don’t think I’ve heard of an opinion being edited after being handed down, and I’m not sure when it would occur.
In my experience as a former clerk to a judge, the only editorial changes made by West (which publishes the standard law reports in the United States) was to legal citations. However, the judge would sometimes make edits to an opinion after the issuance of the slip opinion, typically by sending a letter to West to tell them to make a change.
I believe AK84 is in Pakistan.
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright
ETA: our trial court decisions are not reported at all. If you need a trial opinion you have to ask the court clerk for it.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=AK84]
Ours are not either, with the exception of 6he vanishingly rare occassion when the Superior Courts have Original Juridiction.
[/QUOTE]
Why not? In Canada, if the trial judge gives written reasons, they’re almost always reported.