Infallibility

Infallibility of Courts

From the book The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law, about Infallibility of Courts (1): When a question of law at issue in a case is duly presented to a supreme court which is the court of last resort, its decision thereon becomes “the law of the case” and is thereafter binding upon the court itself and all the courts inferior to it; and no matter how often that identical case may come before the court on subsequent appeals, the questions already decided therein will not be reconsidered. It is interesting to compare this principle of our courts with Papal infallibility (Am. & Eng. Ency. of L., “Stara decisis,” “Res judicata”; 67 Central L. Journal, 255; Pautz v. Plankinton, 126 Wis., 37; 105 N. W., 482; Whittaker v. Mich. M. L. Ins. Co., 83 N. E., 899). Courts do not always adhere to the rule (Bonacum v. Murphy, 71 Neb., 463; 104 N. W., 180).

Resources

Notes and References

1. Charles M. Scanlan, The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law. The Law of Church and Grave (1909), Benziger Brothers, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago

See Also

• Religion
• Church