Case Law

Q.I've heard all about this: "oh well that's what they're expected to do" and perhaps they won't get re-elected and perhaps they might get a reprimand. It doesn't happen, and if it does, it rarely affects their paycheck. So, someone (prefferably a judge yourself) tell me why a judge pays attention to case law, and usually tries to not be overturned. I'm also interested in the cases that get remanded to lower courts. If the case gets overturned, what make a judge rule in line with the appellate courts ? It just doesn't make sense to me. Is it money, pride, fear, reputation, re-election. What is it ? Be specific.

A.It's not a matter of not wanting to be overruled. Statute law, like all verbiage, is rarely amenable to being written so that no interpretation is required. When a higher court provides an interpretation, that interpretation becomes the law for that jurisdiction, until altered by subsequent rulings. A higher court, on appeal, might, for instance, rule that testimony about speed radar is expert testimony, which would bar most officers from testifying about its workings and the validity of its results. Courts subject to the higher court's review would be bound to treat it as expert testimony and hold appropriate hearing on the qualifications of the expert. Once the higher court has remanded a case for cause, what would you have the judge do? Repeat the original error and have it remanded again? There is more law than statute law. A great deal of what you would imemdiately recognize as law is "case law."

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