First Principles of Business Law

7.9. The court and the judges continued...

The names of the judges who decided Lynch's case are highlighted below. Each name is followed by an abbreviation that indicates the judge's seniority. J means Justice; CJ means Chief Justice; JA means Judge of Appeal; and AJA means Acting Judge of Appeal.

Three judges sitting together indicates that this is a decision of a full bench of a state Supreme Court. Judges do not always agree on how a case should be decided. If there is disagreement, the majority view prevails, regardless of the seniority of particular judges.  If the Chief Justice is sitting, his/her decision will be reported first, followed by the decision of the other judges in order of seniority.This means you must be careful, when reading cases, to notice whether the judgment you are reading is the decision of a dissenting judge as opposed to one who is part of the majority.