AC1.1 Judicial Law Making

Question 1

What are the two ways judges can make laws in the UK?

Answer 1

• by interpreting statutes. judges will clarify the meaning of a word or phrase in an Act of Parliament where there may be uncertain as to the meaning.
• by judicial precedent which is when the past decisions of judges create laws for future judges. Essentially judges make law through cases.

Question 2

Features of Judicial Precedent

There are two

Answer 2

1. There is a hierarchy of courts so that the decisions of higher courts set a binding precedent for lower courts to follow in cases with similar features.
2. Judges must put forward reasoned arguments when deciding cases to explain their decisions. These must be published in law reports so that the judges in future cases and lawyers can find the binding ratio of a case.

Question 3

Judges must…

There are three

Answer 3

• apply the law consistently by using the same principles in similar cases
• make law that has to be common in all cases
• follow the hierarchy of the courts e.g. lower courts have to abide by the decisions of the higher courts.

Question 4

Criminal court hierarchy

There are five courts with number five being the lowest

Answer 4

1. Supreme court
2. court of appeal
3. crown court
4. magistrates and youth courts
5. trial courts

Question 5

Examples of Judicial precedent

Answer 5

Donoghue vs Stevenson (1932)

Two women went to a cafe. One drank ginger beer and became ill. They found it contained a decomposing snail and sued the manufacturer. They won the case.
This case led to modern day law of negligence

Daniels vs White (1938)

Brought and drank lemonade and they experienced a burning sensation in their throat and became ill. The drink was found to contain corrosive metal. The case of Donoghue Vs Stevenson was used when suing the manufacturer. They won the case.
The Donoghue vs Stevenson case was similar enough to be used for the purpose of creating judicial precedent.

Question 6

Judges are not bound by a following precedent if they…

There are four

Answer 6

• Distinguish their current case by saying it is different from the facts in the precedent case that it doesn’t/can’t be applied.
• Overrule the decision in the previous case (only open to judges in courts higher than where the original decision was made)
• Judges can also simply disprove of a previous decision in their judgment in a case which can lead to the criticised case later being overruled.
• when there is no similar enough previous precedent then the judges have to make an original precedent