Courts make law only as a byproduct of their adjudicative function

Evidence

The emphasis of the chapter, which has been indicated, on the law making, or law declaring, function of the courts is in keeping with the subtitle of these materials. But this emphasis should not be allowed to obscure the fact that the development of a body of decisional law is only a by-produce of the judicial process. The basic function of courts is the function of adjudication - or, more accurately, the function of settling disputes by the method of adjudication. Attention accordingly has to be given to the significance of this method and this function in the operation of the legal system as a whole. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 15

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that adjudication, not lawmaking, is courts’ basic function; decisional law is merely its byproduct.
• XREF: connects to: Judicial-legislative competence and law’s form are separable but linked questions — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 6; Courts cannot decline to make law because every merits judgment necessarily resolves the dispute — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1705; Courts do make law even though formal theory denies them that power — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 439 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Courts do make law even though formal theory denies them that power #corroborates (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 439
• Courts must decide only the case before them, not hypothetical future cases #corroborates (0.80) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1008