Transcript Document
Judges
Appellate judges-job is to interpret and
apply past law
Law is either
– Case law-common law
– Statutory law-legislative enactments
Judges reason
Objectively and neutrally
– Is this possible?
– How does subjectivity present itself
Statutory Interpretation
Judges must apply law to facts
Juries try the facts-judges interpret law
Judges interpret the meaning of statutes
Statute is law enacted by legislature
Enacted law=positive law
Interpretation of statutes is informed by
differing philosophies of “statutory
construction” and law
Speluncean Explorer Case
Five judges-five opinions-five ways of
thinking about how to apply this law to this
case
What happened
N.C.S.A. 12-A
WHOEVER
SHALL WILLFULLY
TAKE THE LIFE OF ANOTHER
SHALL BE PUNISHED BY DEATH
Chief Justice Truepenny
Uphold Conviction
Letter of law clear
Allows for no exception-must convict
Executive clemency
His philosophy STRICT STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION
Justice Foster
Overturn conviction on two grounds
LOOSE STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION
– Go behind words look for legislative intent
– NATURAL LAW
– Outside the physical boundaries of the
jurisdiction, positive law does not apply
Justice Tatting
Withdraws– Irresolvable contradiction between his legal
philosophy that the letter of the law should
apply (STRICT CONSTRUCTIONIST) and his
moral view that this would lead to unjust result
Justice Keen
Uphold Conviction-Strict Statutory
Constructionist
Inappropriate to call for Executive
Clemency (pardon)
Judge’s job is to apply to letter of the law to
the facts-to read the statute literally
Justice Handy
Overturn Conviction
Philosophy of Legal Realism-thinks of the
political and social context of law
Considers the reality of who the Governor is
Relevance of Public Opinion
How Legal Philosophy Shapes
Judicial Decision-Making
Judge’s opinions are grappling with
– Dissonance between law and morality
– The legal idea of necessity
– Mens Rea
– Rational choice
– Social contract
What about Judicial
Discretion?
How to account for Judges’ subjectivity
Jerome Frank argues that judging is a
psychological process-that judges reason
from an intuition, a hunch.
Subjectivity most vividly expressed in
“sentencing.”
Who would you choose?
You’re representing a doctor, charged with murder
under a similar statute,because she, at the request
of her patient, suffering from early stages of
Alzheimer's, helped him commit suicide by
injecting him with cyanide
What if the doctor was charged with murder under
this statute because he performed an abortion on a
patient who was 16 weeks pregnant?