In the law, a close case is generally defined as a ruling that could conceivably be decided in more than one way. Various scholars have attempted to articulate criteria for identifying close cases, and commentators have observed that reliance upon
precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
established in close cases leads to the gradual expansion of legal doctrines.
Identifying close cases
Although some scholars have suggested that "a close case is in the eye of the beholder", other scholars have attempted to articulate specific criteria for identifying close cases. Maureen Armoor, for example, defines close cases as "the articulable outer limit of judicial discretion that most closely approximates the phenomenological experience of a sitting judge, in particular the dimension of discretion called into play when a judge is uncertain about an outcome".
Ward Farnsworth, dean of the
University of Texas School of Law
The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the law school of the University of Texas at Austin. Texas Law is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the United States and is highly selective—registering the 8th lowest ac ...
, has suggested that close cases could be defined as either "cases close enough to provoke dissent" or cases that "are flexible enough to comfortably admit of more than one reading". Likewise, a 1980 comment in the ''
Stanford Law Review
The ''Stanford Law Review'' (SLR) is a legal journal produced independently by Stanford Law School students. The journal was established in 1948 with future U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher as its first president. The review produces s ...
'' defined close cases as appellate decisions that generated multiple dissenting opinions.
Consequences of close cases
Northwestern University law professor John E. Coons observed that "
der a system of winner-take-all the one-sided result reached upon principle in the close case must continue to trouble the conscience of the law". Judge
Guido Calabresi
Guido Calabresi (born October 18, 1932) is an Italian-born American legal scholar and Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a former Dean of Yale Law School, where he has been a pr ...
, a former dean of
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...
, noted that close cases create a "
slippery slope
A slippery slope argument (SSA), in logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and caselaw, is an argument in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usually ...
", where the "next close case comes up and the precedent
stablished in the last close caseis applied: same thing, same thumb on the scale, same decision". Calabresi argued that this process ultimately leads to the ongoing expansion of doctrine that was originally established only on a narrow basis. Additionally, Ward Farnsworth has argued that judges often resolve close cases "according to beliefs the judges bring to the case that don’t owe much to law".
[Ward Farnsworth, ]
The Role of Law in Close Cases: Some Evidence from the Federal Courts of Appeals
', 86 1083, 1095 (2006).
See also
*
Judicial discretion Judicial discretion is the power of the judiciary to make some legal decisions according to their discretion. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the ability of judges to exercise discretion is an aspect of judicial independence. Where ...
*
Scope of review The scope of review refers generally to the right to have an issue raised on appeal. It entails whether an issue was preserved by or available to an appellant on appeal. Scope of review is to the appellate court what the burden of proof is to the ...
References
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