From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Case brought to set a legal precedent
In
case law
, a
test case
is a legal action whose purpose is to set a
precedent
. Test cases are brought to court as a means to provide a clearer definition to laws with disputed meaning and/or intent. An example of a test case might be a
legal entity
who files a
lawsuit
to see if the court considers a certain
law
or a certain legal
precedent
applicable in specific circumstances. This is useful, for example, to validate later filing similar lawsuits.
Government agencies sometimes bring test cases to confirm or expand their powers.
[1]
Examples
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]
Examples of influential test cases include:
- Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
- Tennessee v. Scopes
(1925)
- United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
(1933)
- Brown v. Board of Education
(1954)
- Griswold v. Connecticut
(1965)
- Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y. State v. Oneida County
(1974)
- Adams v Cape Industries plc
(1990)
- Mabo v Queensland (No 2)
(1992)
- National Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Limited
(2005)
- District of Columbia v. Heller
(2008)
See also
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References
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- ^
In
FTC v. Dean Foods Co.
, the FTC sought to establish its power to obtain preliminary injunctions in anti-merger cases. In
FTC v. Sperry & Hutchinson Co.
, the FTC sought to establish its power to invoke section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. sec. 45, against business practices that were "unfair" without being similar to antitrust violations. In
United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd.
, the Justice Department sought to establish its power to invalidate patents even though they were not procured by fraud. Unsuccessful such test cases sometimes provide a basis for convincing Congress of the need for corrective legislation.