POLS 2150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 24: Trial Division, Precedent, Unemployment Benefits

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 2150
• Professor: Shama

Document Summary

Peter russell defines the term as proving authoritative settlements in disputes about the law . It"s only when a compromise cannot be reached that they must bring it to court. The function of the judiciary is to fender formal, impartial, authoritative judgments in the case of legal disputes between two parties that cannot be settled otherwise. Judges can usually avoid a precedent they dislike by distinguishing it that is, deciding that the facts in the case before them are sufficiently different from the facts of the precedent case that to follow the latter would be inappropriate. Russell says that although judges are using precedents from old cases, they are molding the law into their current dispute. They put flesh on the bare skeleton of the law and shape its substance . Rule adjudication can now be considered as part of the policymaking process. One step beyond judicial discretion is the explicit power of judicial review.