Courts lack legislature’s freedom to set narrow rules without precedent costs

Evidence

The legislative body could very well interfere and -erbitrarily provide that no one should be permitted for his own selfish purposes to use the picture or the name of another for advertising purposes without his consent. In such event, no embarrassment would result to the general body of the law, for the rule would be applicable only to cases provided for by the statute. The courts, however, being without authority to legislate, are required to decide cases upon principle, and so are necessarily embarrassed by precedents created by an extreme, and, therefore, unjustifiable application of an old principle. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1054

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Roe/Capron material from ch4 on judicial vs legislative competence and the institutional limits of adjudication. — connects to: Judges deciding on personal notions of right create incalculable future mischief through precedent — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1061; Judges believe themselves unable to overturn entrenched rules, so the rules persist. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 9; Courts often make policy without information about situations their rulings affect. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1472 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Courts lack the remedial flexibility and cost-benefit tools of other policymakers #corroborates (0.90) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2871
• Courts often make policy without information about situations their rulings affect. #expands (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1472
• Courts cannot produce the precise schedules legislatures enact #expands (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 456
• Courts frame policy issues in terms of legal rights, not costs and benefits #complicates (0.75)
• Respect for precedent keeps courts from reversing failed policies. #expands (0.70) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1482