Distinguishing, Overruling and Reversing | A Level Notes Law 9084 скачать в хорошем качестве

Distinguishing, Overruling and Reversing | A Level Notes Law 9084

This is a technique that a judge can use to stop implementing a previous decision that he would otherwise have to obey. • This ensures the judge finds that the underlying facts of the case he determines are sufficiently different to differentiate between the present case and the previous case. He is then not constrained by the situation before him. • Balfour v Balfour (1919) and Merritt v Merritt (1971) are two cases that illustrate this method. A lady filed a lawsuit against her spouse for breach of contract in both situations. It was determined in Balfour that the lawsuit could not prevail because there was no attempt to develop civil relationships; there was only a marital partnership between a husband and wife, so there was no legally binding contract. • The second case was successful because the court found the circumstances of the two situations to be sufficiently different in that, although the plaintiffs were husband and wife, the agreement was reached after they had divorced. • Besides, the agreement was made in writing. It separated the situation from Balfour; the Merritt deal was not only a territorial agreement but also a legally enforceable contract. Balfour and Meritt are cases that are applied at many places. Remember them. Overruling • This is wherein a later case, a judge claims that in an earlier case, it is incorrect to determine the legal rule. Overruling may arise when a higher court overrules a decision taken by a lower court in an earlier case, such as the Supreme Court overruling the Court of Appeal's decision • . It can also arise when the European Court of Justice overrules a ruling it has made in the past; or when the House of Lords has used its authority under the Code of Procedure to overrule its own judgment in the past. • An indication of this was seen in Pepper v Hart (1993) when the House of Lords decided that it was possible to use Hansard (the archive of what is said in Parliament) while trying to decide what certain terms in Parliament's Act represented. This ruling overruled Davis v Johnson's earlier decision (1979) when the House of Lords decided that it could not review Hansard. Reversing • This is where a higher court in the system in the same situation overturns a lower court's decision on appeal. The Court of Appeal, for instance, may interfere with the High Court's legal ruling and come to a different view of the law; it overturns the High Court's decision in this case. #Law9084 #Distinguishing #Overruling #Reversing ‪@Notesreel‬