It is of course true that any kind of judicial legislation is objectionable on the score of the limited interests which a Court can represent, yet there are wrongs which in fact legislatures cannot be brought to take an interest in, at least not until the Courts have acted.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Courts should not make laws, but they must sometimes act to address wrongs that legislatures ignore.
- In plain terms
- Judges shouldn't legislate, but they need to step in when lawmakers fail to fix problems.
- What can you take from it?
- Courts intervene when legislatures neglect specific wrongs.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When is it right for a court to act without clear law?
- Who protects the interests legislatures ignore?
Another view
Judicial action can still overstep bounds if not carefully constrained.
More from Learned Hand
Political agitation, by the passions it arouses or the convictions it engenders, may in fact stimulate men to the violation of the law. Detestation of existing…
Permalink to quote #5 The law, being an inherited accumulation, imposes itself on each generation willy-nilly. Any society whose members enter and leave it severally must for very c…
Permalink to quote #7 How long shall we blunder along without the aid of unpartisan and authoritative scientific assistance in the administration of justice, no one knows; but all f…
Permalink to quote #4
Related quotes
We do not sit as a superlegislature to weigh the wisdom of legislation.
William O. DouglasWilliam O. Douglas quote #44 It will be the duty of the Executive, with sufficient appropriations for the purpose, to prosecute unsparingly all who have been engaged in depriving citizens …
Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes quote #6 It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist und…
Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson quote #6