Presentation MLS 25AUGUST2010
Presentation MLS 25AUGUST2010
Divided into 2:
i) ratio decidendi
(legal reasoning) principle/reason of judgment.
County
Courts
Appeals shown thus
Hierachy of the Superior Courts From 1963 -
1985
Judical Committee of the
Privy Council
Federal Court
High Court
(Malaya) High Court (Borneo)
Hierachy of The Superior Courts 1985-1994
Supreme
Court
High Court
(Malaya) High Court (Borneo)
Hierachy of the Malaysia Court Post -
1994
Federal Court
Court of
Appeal
Court of
Appeal
Sessions Court
Sessions Court Subordinate
Courts
Magistrate‟s
Magistrates‟
Court
Court
Penghulu‟s Court
Vertical Operation
Courts of lower rank are bound to follow the
decisions of the courts of higher ranks.
Federal
Court
Court of
Appeal
High Court
Subordinate Courts
Exception
Subordinate Courts‟ decision are not binding
in any court, including them.
They are bound by precedents laid down by
the Superior Courts.
Vertical Operation
In Dhalip Bhagwan Singh V Public Prosecutor
[1998] the Federal Court laid down two
principles.
While a court may not refuse to follow a decision
of a higher court, it may choose between two
conflicting decisions;
1) In the case of two conflicting decisions of the
Court of Appeal, courts lower in the hierarchy
may choose to follow either decision irrespective
of whether it is the earlier or later decision (the
dates do not matter to the Court of Appeal itself).
This was illustrated in Ablemerge v Emville [2000],
which the High Court faced with two conflicting
authorities from the Court of Appeal which are
Accounting Publications v Ho Soo Furniture [1998]
and Interscope Versicherung v Sime Axa Assurance
[1999].
The High Court choose to follow the earlier decision.
2) In the case of two conflicting decisions of the
Federal Court, all courts below must choose to
follow the later decisions (because the later
decisions represents the existing state of the
law).
This was illustrated in Datuk Tan Leng Teck V Sarjana
Sdn Bhd & Ors [1997], the High Court faced with two
conflicting decisions of Federal Court which are Ah Mee v
Public Prosecutor [1967] and Public Prosecutor v
Datuk Haji Harun bin Idris [1977].
The High court chooses to follow the later decision.
The vertical operation in Malaysian courts are
not straightforward?
Reasons?
1)Status of decisions of the Privy Council.
2)Status of decisions of predecessors courts
of the present Federal Courts.
Status of decisions of the Privy Council