A court decision is the court’s ruling on a case. It analyzes the arguments and law involved in the case, and it states what legal rights the parties have. Court decisions are typically published in judicial reports that contain the judge’s written opinion and a summary of the case. These decisions are referred to as case law (or judicial law) and may set important precedent for future cases or simply provide guidance to judges on how to decide the case before them.
A judge’s decision often includes a majority and dissenting opinions. The dissenting opinion offers additional comment and clarification on the reasoning and principles of law that the majority opinion used to arrive at its decision. On rare occasions, a dissenting opinion can become the main majority opinion.
One theory of the influence of public opinion on judicial decisions is that courts tend to reflect, and respond to, the preferences of the general population. Another theory, called fashion drift, suggests that as trends in the general society change, so do the judicial preferences of justices.
In the United States, a court decision can be an interlocutory order settling an intermediate matter in a case, or a final decision that settles all of the matters in the case. Most Supreme Court decisions consist of a “syllabus,” followed by one or more opinions. The part of a decision that actually constitutes law begins with the section labeled “Opinion.” The sections appearing before this label are usually added by a reporter to help readers understand the case and should not be considered as law.