POLI 441 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Precedent, Judicial Activism, Test Case

• School: McGill University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 441
• Professor: Krzysztof Pelc

Document Summary

2:45 pm: the wto denies that precedent is formally binding. Precedent becomes important when you would not have followed it otherwise, because. Judges can"t change or add to whatever countries have signed on to. The ruling is only about the case at hand. The only way you can have definitive interpretation is by being one of the countries in. Governments are weary of the possibility that judges would have influence over the dispute their obligations. Judicial activism is feared: and yet judges routinely invoke past rulings - do they have any affect, case 98 (korea) and 121 (shoes) People decide what they want first and then find evidence to prove it. Both the first cases that the eu takes on safeguards. Test case: a case you use to test to what extent you have public opinion on your side; Eu doesn"t use safeguards and loses from easy safeguards. These cases were used in future cases.