NI Legal System Flashcards
Judge-made law is also known as case-law.
(a) Describe what Judge-made law is.
(b) Set out, with appropriate justification, whether you think it is still necessary today.
(a) The doctrine of binding precedent. A precedent is a previous court decision which another court is bound to follow, by deciding a subsequent case in the same way.
(b) No –> different judge, different perspectives; a decision made years ago may not be relevant in present day (such as concerning technology, etc.)
Compare and contrast Judge-made law and Parliament made law setting out the pros and cons of each.
Judge-made law is based on court decisions and is binding. It is precedent for subsequent court cases. The decision is made in court based on codes and statutes.
- Pros: flexibility (adapt based on relevancy), precedent (helps guide future decisions)
- Cons: rigidity (precedent has to be followed in future), limited scope (only addresses issues in court, may have gaps for further action to be made)
Parliament made law is written law and formally adopted through the legislative process. A bill is a proposed law introduced into Parliament. Once a bill has been debated and then approved by each House of Parliament (House of Commons, House of Lords), and has received Royal Assent, it becomes law and is known as an act.
- Pros: democratic (elected Parliament representatives), consistency
- Cons: long process, complex, government controlled
