Test case (law)
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 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and the English-speaking world and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (March 2025) |
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (May 2024) |
In case law, a test case is a lawsuit whose purpose is to establish an important legal principle or right and to set a precedent.[1] Test cases are brought to court with the intention of challenging, interpreting, or receiving clarification on a present law, regulation, or constitutional principle.[2] Government agencies sometimes bring test cases to confirm or expand their powers.[3] The outcome of test cases has a wide public significance as it shapes future rulings.[4]
Examples
[edit | edit source]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
[edit | edit source]- Case of first impression
- Leading case
- Uncommon Law, or Misleading Cases in the Common Law, by A. P. Herbert; still further misleading case
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.
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