判例

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 判例 combines 判, a judicial determination, with 例, a case or example, and is a legal noun read はんれい.
• Basic usage: It denotes an earlier judicial decision or the body of such case law studied for a legal issue.
  • 授業で契約に関する判例を読んだ。 concerns a precedent about contracts, while 小説の弁護士は過去の判例を調べた。 describes researching earlier case law.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Scope of に関する
  • In 契約に関する判例, に関する identifies contracts as the legal subject addressed by the precedent.
• 判例 and 法律
  • 法律(ほうりつ) refers to enacted law, while 判例 focuses on judicial decisions made in concrete cases.
• One case and a body of cases
  • Depending on context, 判例 can identify one precedent or refer collectively to accumulated case law.