Strengths and Weaknesses of the Courts

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Strengths and weaknesses of the courts as law makers The courts have a number of strengths and weaknesses in their ability to make laws A strength of the courts is that they have the ability to give meaning to legislation. Courts are able to apply relevant law to the cases brought before. This application of the law sometimes requires courts to interpret the wording in the Act and give them meaning. An example of a case where courts were required to give meaning to the words of an Act was the studded belt case (1996). In this case a man had his studded belt taken off him and seized as a weapon under the Controlled Weapons Act. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Justice Beach interpreted the unclear meaning of the work ‘weapon’ in order to come to a decision by looking it up in the dictionary. Since the definition was ‘warfare’ the conviction against the plaintiff were dropped and he was given back his belt. This case shows the strength in the ability of the court to develop the meaning of words in statutes to make the legislation more effective and functional as well as provide just outcomes for cases as they arise. Another strength of the courts as law-makers is that they are quite flexible. Courts are able to maintain this flexibility through their power to overrule, distinguish, reverse and disapprove cases (although only the superior courts can overrule and reverse) This power to maintain flexibility can be seen in the Baker v. Campbell case of 1983 where the courts overruled a previous legal principle (decision) that ‘legal priviledge does not exist in the profession’ On the other hand courts can at times be inflexible because of their tendency to remain conservative in their decisions in order to uphold consistency and predictability. This can be seen in the Trigwells case of 1978 reflected the court’s decision to follow the out-dated common law allowing
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