Marginal Note - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition marginal-note

Definition :

Marginal note, an abstract of a reported case, a summary of the facts, or brief statement of the principle decided, which is prefixed to the report of the case, usually in the earlier reports placed in the margin, and corresponding to the head-notes of later times and the present day 'marginal notes are often conveniently appended to documents of any kind.

The marginal notes which appear in the statute-books as printed by the King's Printers have not the authority of the legislature, and cannot alter the interpretation of the text. See Claydon v. Green, (1868) LR 3 CP 5, per Willes, J.; Sutton v. Sutton, (1882) 22 Ch D 5, per Jessel, M.R. In the Revised Statutes they have been revised throughout to make them in accordance with the text; and in Chitty's Statutes of Practical Utility they have been much added to, abridged, or altered.

In some private Acts of Parliament the marginal notes may form part of the Act, Re Working, etc., Act, 1911 (1914) 1 Ch 300, per Phillimore, LJ.