a. Define stare decisis and discuss why this doctrine has been so fundamental to the development of our legal tradition.
b. Visit www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/brown.html and then continue your discussion on how the Supreme Court justified its departure from precedent in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
Instructions II
1. Navigate to the threaded discussion below and respond to the following
a. Download and review The Case of Speluncean Explorers. A reprint of Lon L. Fuller's article in its entirety can be found at people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/lawspelunk.html#spelunkers. State which judges you believe have persuasive arguments and which do not. Defend your answer with a detailed evaluation using clear, insightful critical thinking.
b. Based on the information presented in this hypothetical case, provide your verdict. In deciding this case, keep in mind that as a justice you have taken a solemn oath to uphold the laws of Newgarth. Don't put the law aside in order to give effect to your moral convictions unless you think a good judge would do so. Defend your answer with a detailed evaluation using clear, insightful critical thinking.
The defendants, having been indicted for the crime of murder, were convicted and sentenced to be hanged by the Court of General Instances of the County of Stowfield. They bring a petition of error before this Court. The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion of the Chief Justice.
TRUEPENNY, C. J. The four defendants are members of the Speluncean Society, an organization of amateurs interested in the exploration of caves. Early in May of 4299 they, in the company of Roger Whetmore, then also a member of the Society, penetrated into the interior of a limestone cavern of the type found in the Central Plateau of this Commonwealth. While they were in a position remote from the entrance to the cave, a landslide occurred. Heavy boulders fell in such a manner as to block completely the only known opening to the cave. When the men discovered their predicament they settled themselves near the obstructed entrance to wait until a rescue party should remove the detritus that prevented them from leaving their underground prison. On the failure of Whetmore and the defendants to return to their homes, the Secretary of the Society was notified by their families. It appears that the explorers had left indications at the headquarters of the Society concerning the location of the cave they proposed to visit. A rescue party was promptly dispatched to the spot.
The task of rescue proved one of overwhelming difficulty. It was necessary to supplement the forces of the original party by repeated increments of men and machines, which had to be conveyed at great expense to the remote and isolated region in which the cave was located. A huge temporary camp of workmen, engineers, geologists, and other experts was established. The work of removing the obstruction was several times frustrated by fresh landslides. In one of these, ten of the workmen engaged in clearing the entrance were killed. The treasury of the Speluncean Society was soon exhausted in the rescue effort, and the sum of eight hundred thousand frelars, raised partly by popular subscription and partly by legislative grant, was expended before the imprisoned men were rescued. Success was finally achieved on the thirty-second day after the men entered the cave.