Leg Meth Report Final

CERTAINTY & EQUITY BY MERRYMAN

CERTAINTY Principle in law that holds that the law must provide those subject to it with the ability to regulate their conduct

Certainty Civil Law ▪ ▪ ▪

Supreme Value Unquestioned Dogma Fundamental Goal

Common Law ▪ ▪ ▪

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More functional terms Giving force of law to judicial decisions Only one of a number of legal values which sometimes conflict with each other Seen as conflicting with flexibility

EQUITY Power of the judge to mitigate the harshness of strict application of a statute or to allocate property or responsibility according to the respective facts

Equity Justice of the individual case

Development of Chancery Courts

Equity Civil Law ▪

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Judges have no inherent equitable power Power can be given through a statute passed by the legislature Sacrificed flexibility for certainty Distribution of power: legislature

Common Law ▪ ▪

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Centralized justice England: became formulaic but you could petition to the king /chancellor for relief Distribution of power: judge Real life example: Post-Martial Law Constitution

Distinguishing Contributions of Equity ▷ Civil Contempt Power (power of the court to punish individuals for disobeying orders) ▷ Distribution of Power

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One is the public interest in clear, equal, and foreseeable rules of law which enable those who are subject to them to order their behavior in such a manner as to avoid legal conflict or to make clear predictions of their chances in litigation. The other is the need for deciding current, concrete disputes adequately, by giving due weight to the special and perhaps unique circumstances of each case. -Neuhaus

Current Day Examples

Death Penalty

Current Day Examples

Lowering the age of criminal responsibility