6400:220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Plain Meaning Rule, Precedent, Administrative Law Judge
3 Feb 2018
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Chapter 4 common law, statutory law, and administrative law. The sum total of all the cases decided by appellate courts. Today common law still predominates in tort, contract, and agency law, and it is very important in property, employment, and some other areas. Let the decision stand , is the essence of common law. Courts do not always follow precedent, but they generally do. A desire for predictability created the doctrine of stare decisis. The law must be knowable, but must also be exible ; some means to respond to new problems and a changing social climate. You have no duty to assist someone in peril unless you created the danger. The us inherited from england a simple rule regarding a bystanders obligations : The taraso exception applies when there is some special relationship ; such as therapist and patient. Courts are always making subtle changes to the common law rule.
