Jurisprudence / Business Lawyer Colorado

The Philosophy of Law Matters. Here's How.

Courts do not always stick to the letter of the law. Often they resort to the philosophical underpinnings of justice known as 'equitable principles'. These are jurisprudential maxims and concepts which have stood the test of time and assist courts to fill in where the legislature leaves off, or to supply legal doctrine in those instances where the written law is deficient. This can drastically affect the outcome of your business matter, even in Colorado where laws are comparatively friendly to business.

#1 Equitable Concept: Like Cases Must Be Resolved Alike.

As far as equity concepts go, this is the mother of them all. It is known as the doctrine of 'precedent', and in latin was long referred to as stare decisis before law professors and judges began discouraging the use of latin in the law (Use it nowadays at your peril). The concept of stare decisis is extremely important in business matters because many times a business conflict will be an exact duplicate of one the court has already seen and ruled on. In that event, it is important to note that even if the court got it wrong the first time, they will be under immense pressure from the standpoint of equity, that is to say, they will be under jurisprudential pressure, to rule the same way as they did before. They will be likely to apply the doctrine of stare decisis and follow their prior way of resolving the matter...even if they know they actually did not rule very well the first time. This is why lawyers spend hours upon hours researching precedents and billing you for the time spent. It is crucial that they try to find like cases from the past which match your facts most perfectly, so they can argue to the judge that stare decisis applies and the court should rule in their favor.

Contact a Denver Business Lawyer at Williams Law, P.C. for legal counsel and litigation representation.