ABSTRACT
The first thing to note about cases, before examining how the law is distilled from them, is their presentational style. Case names are written in a particular way, for example Miller v Jackson (1977). The ‘v’ in the middle stands for versus, which is Latin for ‘against’. Either side are the names of the parties. The first name is the person or organization that brought the case. If it is a civil case, that person is called the claimant (formerly called the plaintiff) and the other party is called the defendant.
