Case theory (in law)
explanation of events being considered in a legal case
In law, a case theory (aka theory of case, theory of a case, or theory of the case) is “a detailed, coherent, accurate story of what occurred" involving both a legal theory (i.e., claims/causes of action or affirmative defenses) and a factual theory (i.e., an explanation of how a particular course of events could have happened).
That is, a case theory is a logical description of events that the attorney wants the judge or jury to adopt as their own perception of the underlying situation. The theory is often expressed in a story that should be compellingly probable. Case theory is distinguished from jurisprudence (aka legal theory) as general theory of law not specific to a case.
Examples of usage
“Judge Taylor asked lawyers for … their theories of the case because of his unfamiliarity with it ….
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This entry incorporates text from “Case theory (in law)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.