POLS 2350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Precedent, Fox Hunting
4 Oct 2017
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Pearson is on his land and doesn"t see post, but he sees the fox. pearson shoots it, kills it and takes it. Post is angry about this and says it is his fox. Court found that effort doesn"t matter when it comes to property, therefore the fox was. Judiciary is occasionally out of step with society. False because law can adapt quickly when judges accept social change. Pre-charter we would have perceived the judiciary as (small-c) conservative. Vertical stare decisis courts below in the judicial hierarchy must apply the precedents of the courts above. The scc made a decision in 1985, but circumstances had changed in 2015. Horizontal stare decisis courts should maintain their own precedents. High courts, including the supreme court of canada, are not bound by their own. But they want to maintain stability in law so they only deviate in extreme precedents cases. Statues can overturn common law rules, as long as they are explicit.
