We talked about the superiority of the parliament, and that only the parliament can make laws in the legislation. But, there is something that confuses the sovereignty of the parliament, which is the “judge-made law”. Is there such thing as a judge-made law?
What is a judge-made law? A judge-made law is when a judge applies or extends an established rule to new facts, or decides that the particular rule do not take effect on certain situations, thus, making a change in the law. However, when it comes to this, it does not mean that the judges have the power to change the law, nor make new laws. All these laws “made” by the judges are inferior to the parliament and delegated legislation thus can be overruled.
Until the judge-made law is overruled, it is considered as a precedent and stands as a decision on non-statutory points of law, and is subjected to the same rule of stare decisis. The reason why we have judicial precedent is that most of the English laws are derived from the statutes and common law. It then falls into the hands of the judges to interpret them and evolve the law to make a better law.
Judicial precedent, known also as the judge-made law, has two meanings. Firstly, it means the process where the judges of lower or equal courts follow the decision of the judge from previous cases. Secondly, it refers to the decided case itself, where a ‘precedent’ is set to be used in the future cases.
The doctrine of judicial precedent in the English law is one that involves the application of the principle of stare decisis. This principle is set that the Courts of Appeal is bound to follow it’s own previous decisions, and that each court is bound to follow the decisions imposed by the courts above them in the hierarchy. However, since the UK joined the European Union, the courts are bound to follow the EU law given by thee European Courts.
RATIO DECIDENDI & OBITER DICTUM
According to the Oxford dictionary of law, a ratio