The meaning of case law, or judge-made law, comes from the principle of stare decisis; an age-old idea that’s included in the U.S. Constitution. Basically, stare decisis means that courts must use prior cases to decide current cases. So, case law is basically non-legislative law. More on that below.
Judge-made law is also interpretational law. Courts also have a duty to review statutory laws and determine their meaning. Sometimes, politicians intentionally pass vague laws, because, well, they’re politicians.
Bankruptcy and student loans is a good example. Congress revised the Bankruptcy Code in 1976, requiring student loan debtors to show “good cause” before the court discharged these loans. Lawmakers intentionally didn’t define this phrase, and its meaning has been debated ever since.
During civil and criminal trials, and also during pretrial settlement negotiations, attorneys use judge-made law to support their legal arguments. Prior cases, and the arguments based on them, prompt judges to make favorable decisions.
What’s the Definition of Case Law?
The Constitution only established one court, the Supreme Court, to make case law. This document also gave federal lawmakers the authority to create additional courts, which they did in 1789.
Today, the federal court system consists of trial courts (district courts), appellate courts (circuit courts), and the Supreme Court. Most states have similar systems, but the names vary. For example, in New York, trial courts are called Supreme Courts.
Only appellate courts and Supreme Courts issue written decisions. So, these are the only courts that can make case law, at least in most situations.
How Does Judge-Made Law Affect My Legal Claim?
All judge-made law is important in legal arguments, but not all case law is created equally. The effect on individual cases usually varies as follows.
Informative
Appeals court decisions from other states, both circuit courts and Supreme Courts, are informative. Cases from other countries and prestigious law review articles are also informative.
Informative cases aren’t precedential cases that invoke the stare decisis rule. We know that’s a lot of Legalese. Basically, judges must look at the way these courts approached problems, say “that’s interesting,” and follow or ignore their findings.
Influential
The federal system has twelve circuit courts. If Tina has a federal case in Nevada (9th Circuit), she may cite a similar decision from the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The judge in Tina’s case can ignore that 5th Circuit case, but the judge must usually distinguish it (explain why s/he’s not following that precedent).
The same thing applies in state court. If Tina, who is an appellate lawyer, had a case in the 5th Circuit of Texas (Dallas), she can cite a case from the 2nd Circuit (Ft. Worth) to support her position. The 5th Circuits judge must distinguish the 2nd Circuit case if s/he doesn’t follow it.
Binding
U.S. Supreme Court opinions are binding on all U.S. cases. Federal circuit court cases are binding in that circuit.
Likewise, state Supreme Court opinions are binding in that state and circuit court opinions are binding in that circuit. Additionally, a senior trial court judge’s opinion is binding on any magistrate or associate judges in that court.
Usually, judges must follow these decisions whether they like it or not. However, that’s not always the case.
What’s an Example of Judge-Made Law?
To illustrate these principles, we could look at abortion, gun control, or something else in today’s headlines. Instead, let’s take a trip in the way-back machine and look at a slightly less controversial example.
In 1896, the Supreme Court decided Plessy vs. Ferguson. This case established the separate but equal doctrine, ushering in a slew of laws, called Jim Crow laws, that required or allowed racial segregation in most public places.
Court cases of this era produced unusual results, to say the least. We mentioned Texas above. In 1946, a Black student was denied admission to the all-White University of Texas Law School. The student sued. To avoid a trial, the state set up a special law school for this one student, which later became Texas Southern University in Houston. Today, TSU has almost 10,000 Black and White students.
1954’s Brown vs. Board of Education reversed Plessy. In Brown, the Supreme Court ruled that separate facilities were inherently unequal. Ten years later, the 1964 Civil Rights Act converted nondiscrimination from case law to statutory law.
What’s the Difference Between Case Law and Statutory Law?
To go back to the Constitution, statute law is law passed by Article 1 (legislative branch) and Article 2 (executive branch). All states have a similar setup.
Frequently, judge-made law is here today and gone tomorrow. Lawyers, including judges, are very adept at crafting legal arguments that distinguish other cases, as outlined above.
Legislative law, or statutory law, is a little more permanent. A single lawyer, or a small panel of lawyers, can change case law. But the majority of people in a state or federal legislature create statute law. Convincing 270 people (a majority in the House of Representatives, a majority in the Senate, and the President) to vote a certain way is a lot harder than convincing three or four people to vote a certain way.
Constitutional law is the next level of statutory law. Once a law is in the federal or state constitution, it’s almost impossible to change it.
Statutory law has the same effect on criminal and civil cases as state law. Statute law could be informative, influential, or binding, depending on what state or federal legislature made that law.