Court Opinion

ID: 9583029
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:34:08.262132+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:05.049130
License: Public Domain

Deen, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur fully with the majority opinion. However, I must add that the judiciary should wherever possible avoid establishing public policy, as this is the primary duty of the legislature. The courts generally should refrain from judicial lawmaking through interpretation, legislation or intervention in matters of public policy unless the need and principle involved is clear and convincing. There are two purposes of public policy. One is of utility and one is of principle. Where the matter is one exclusively of utility, I definitely feel the courts should not intervene or establish public policy, as this is best left to our elected representatives and lawmakers. But, as here, where the question is primarily a matter of interpretation and ascertainment of the best legal theory plus application of principle, then I believe this case is sufficiently clear and convincing that our court may in this limited situation extend the standard or rule of *611public policy as herein pronounced.1 Hence my concurring opinion.

“Judicial interpretation in hard cases constitutes one important mode of lawmaking. Legislation, of course, is a second. The difference between the two is that the former, when properly exercised, consists of interpreting existing legal standards, while the latter involves developing policies based upon an assessment of public needs as they are articulated by various lobbies and political organizations. Hence, compromise plays a crucial role in the legislative process, but it is totally out of place in the judicial...” William A. Parent, “Interpretation and Justification in Hard Cases,” 15 Ga. Law Rev. 99, 139 (Fall 1980).