Self-study
After a judge has made the first ruling on a particular point of law, judges must follow that precedent if the original ruling is not contrary to the basic moral values of society. ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ █████████████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████████ █ █████
Summary
Domain: judge has made first ruling on a particular point of law
If original ruling is not contrary to basic moral values of society → future judges must follow that precedent
Domain: there’s no first ruling on a particular point of law
If judge’s own view does not contradict any widespread public opinion < — > judge may use their own view when deciding a case
(Note that the second principle is a biconditional because of the “and only then”. So if a judge’s own view DOES contradict widespread public opinion, then the judge may NOT use their own view when deciding a case.)
Find or Complete the Application
The correct answer will involve either a situation in which there is an original ruling on a point of law, or there isn’t.
If there is, then the conclusion will involve a judge following the precedent because the original ruling isn’t contrary to basic moral values of society.
If there isn’t precedent, then the conclusion will involve either (1) a judge following their own view because it doesn’t contradict widespread public opinion or (2) a judge NOT following their own view because it does contradict widespread public opinion
Analysis by Kevin_Lin
19.
Of the rulings described below, █████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██████
a
Judge Swoboda is ██████████ ████ █ █████ █████ █████ ██████ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ █ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ██████
b
Judge Valenzuela decides, ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ ████████████ ████████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████████████████ ██ ███████
c
Judge Levinsky sets █ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ █ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ███ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ████████
d
Judge Watanabe must ██████ █ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██████
e
Judge Balila rules ███████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ████████