CASE DIGEST

Part of studying law is learning how to digest cases. A case digest or a case brief is a written summary of the case. A case sometimes involves several issues. Digesting the same would help the student in separating one issue from another and understanding how the Court resolved the issues in the case. The student does not need to discuss all the issues decided in the case in his case digest. He only needs to focus on the relevant issue or the issue related to the subject that he is taking. 

A case digest may also serve as a useful study aid for class discussions and exams. A student who has a case digest does not need to go back to the case in order to remember what he has read.If you are a first year student, the idea is totally new. You could be surprised of the number of cases that each professor will assign to you.It has been a practice in Law School for Professors to assign numerous cases to students for them to read, understand, and digest. This is very tiring indeed. 

The format of the Case Digest requires that you give the facts of the case, the issues involved, and the ruling of the Supreme Court as to the matter. This is very taxing since you would have to read the cases, understand them, and pinpoint the relevant facts and issues. However, before determining what constitutes the facts, issues and ruling of a case, you must consider what subject you are asked to digest. If your Political Law professor asks you to digest cases, you must focus on the subject that concerns Political Law only. Simply stated, digest a case according to the subject in which you are assigned the case.Then you would have to give the ruling of the Court on such issues that you have pointed out. Also, they say that a good digest would only be one or two pages at most. So, in short, you should cram about 20, more or less, pages of a case into one single paper. And it's not just one case, but it could even reach to about a hundred. Everything should also be handwritten. So prepare your brain, coffee, lots of pen, and a number of notebooks.