A court does not necessarily give its decision on the last day of the hearing. Sometimes, particularly in appeal cases, it reserves judgment until a later date. This explains why there may be more than one date shown on the first page of a report. The earlier date shown (25 October in this example) is when the court heard argument from counsel at the end of the hearing. The later date (12 December) indicates when judgment was given. This is the date in which the case became a precedent for later cases.
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