Juveniles and the Law
Case Brief:
Research the legal case: In re Gault 387 U.S. 1 (1967), the first juvenile case in history. You can use the Internet or
search on www.findlaw.com.
Read the directions on briefing a case below. Next, brief the case listed in three pages.
List the Case:
1. Judicial history
2. Facts
3. Issues,
4. Rules
5. Analysis and reasoning
6. Holding
When writing a case brief, the answers to the fallowing questions are components that create a case brief. These
questions are:
Who are the parties?·
What happened in lower courts?·
What is the legal question before this court?·
What rules (primary law) did court rely on in researching decision?·
How did court analyze the facts in ligh·t of the legal questions and rules?
How did the court solve the dispute?·
When the answers to the questions are well known, the case brief is written.·
The components of the case brief may also be divided into elements, which are included above under “List the Case.”
These elements also must be included in order to correctly finish a case brief summary. Judicial history is described as
the court’s reasoning or decision. When collecting the facts, only relevant facts are considered. The element issue is
simply a description of the question presented at court. The rules are the laws relied on in the court during the trial.
Analyzing and reasoning is used to rationalize the how the issues relate to the broken laws. Lastly, the holding element
provides an answer to the issue presented at court