Their positions and the strengths of the opposing

their positions and the strength’s of the opposing sides
 They create an environment in which the parties are more likely to
think of creative solutions to their problems that can benefit both
sides
o Summary Jury Trial: a jury is selected and they view a presentation of
evidence. The weaker side sees that they are vulnerable and often times
settles shortly after
o Minitrial: corporate executives view an abbreviated presentation of
evidence and begin settlement negotiations
 Sources of Law:
o Common law- decisions made by judges—flexible and adaptable
 Judges look at past court cases to find precedent— stare decisis
 The attorneys for both parties look for earlier cases
involving similar fact patterns in an effort to determine
whether applicable principles of law have been established
 Sometimes they don’t try this, they completely overturn or modify
 Flagiello v. Pennsylvania Hospital (1965) (below)
 Mandatory precedent: supposed to follow it because higher levels
in the appellate chain (in the same state) made the decisions
 Sometimes judges follow precedents from other sources like UK
or different states (persuasive authority)
 Common law was originated by the judicial branch through
decisions in cases decided by the courts
 It diffuses rules found in fact patterns and decisions of prior cases
 It has a narrow scope- it is limited to actual cases
 The effects of social and political forces are indirect because
judges somewhat are insulated from political pressures
 Role of the judge:
 Compares the case to previous cases
 Decide if precedents are still applicable
o Statutory law- decisions made by legislative branch through formal
lawmaking process
 Form is official codified text
 It has a broad scope- subject only to constitutional limitations

 It feels direct effect of social and political forces through the
political process
 Can represent the people
 Cannot take away our rights
 Requirements:
 Cannot only affect a portion of the citizens
 Requires that the subject of every act be set forth in it’s title
 Prohibits a statute from embracing more than one subject
—prevents omnibus bills
 Cannot pass vague laws- must be “reasonably definite and
certain”
 Criminal statutes are overturned often for being too vague
 Statutory interpretation: their objective is not to interpret a statute
in the way the judges think it should have been written but instead
in the way the judges think that legislature would have wanted it
applied, courts have to fill in the blanks,
 Search for legislative intent
 First refer to dictionary for all language, second
examine context, third examine the history, fourth
discern the meaning of the legislative language,
fifth consider precedent
 the purpose rule- figure out what problem the
legislature was trying to solve
 plain meaning rule- wording is clear and cannot be
seen any other way, rare
 look at legislative history
 focus on the text, look at the language that the