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> The judicial branch does not make laws. > They interpreted existing laws for a particular case, gave their judgement, and applied the existing law. This is
by joshuaissac 3y ago
> The judicial branch does not make laws.
> They interpreted existing laws for a particular case, gave their judgement, and applied the existing law.
This is not how it works in common law jurisdictions. Common law judges can and do make law. This is called case law (or common law), in contrast to statute law that is enacted by the legislature. That goes beyond just interpreting statute law but also making new laws where they do not exist. Common law offences, for example, are crimes declared as such by judges even when there is no statute criminalising that conduct. Most of the existing contract law has been made by judges rather than by legislators.
- cvoss 3y agoThis is just a dispute of semantics over what the word "law" means. The fact remains that the United States government has been designed from the start to have legislative bodies that pass statutes, and judicial bodies which do not pass statutes. If judicial bodies effectively pass or amend statutes by exercising too much control, then we have a fundamental breakdown occurring with respect to the design of the system.