LEGALST 153 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6-9: Contempt Of Court, Judicial Discretion, Precedent
2 Feb 2017
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Common law: judges are heroes and household names. Come from law school, it"s an honor to be named to a bench. Civil law: judges are civil servants, functionaries. People decide to be judges after graduation. Earn same respect as any other government office. Reason: different judicial tradition in civil law. Early roman judges( index) were not experts in law and had limited power. Imperial period: people who decided disputes were more learned in the law, but they were interpreted as applying the emperors will. Lawmaking judges were interpreting creatively, creating a second set of common law that rivaled the king"s. Insistence that laws must be made by legislation, so law cannot be made by judges. Requirement that judges could only use the law in deciding a case. Judge is now some kind of expert clerk. Job is to find the right legislative provision and check it against case. Judge operates a machine designed and built by legislators.
