Court of Appeal?

Question

How can a judge of the court of appeal reform the law??

I am talking about ENGLISH law so obviously a sheriff wouldn't have anything to do with it.

Answer 1

One such case is the High Trees Case. Read all the case, which involved Lord Denning giving his judgement.

Answer 2

English law comes in two flavours. Statute Law is based on Acts of Parliament. Case Law is based upon what Courts have decided in the past. A High Court judge (including the Court of Appeal) can decide that an earlier decision was wrong or out of date and so make changes to Case Law. He can't normally make changes to Statute Law. However, because some statutes contradict each other, he may decide that one takes precedence over another.

Answer 3

A unique feature of English law is the doctrine of judicial precedents, whereby the reported decisions of the courts/judges form a binding source of law for future decisions. A judge is bound by decisions of courts of superior jurisdiction but not necessarily by those of inferior courts.

The House of Lords is binding on all courts below it and is bound by no other court (other than by the European Court of Justice on matters of European Community Law only).

The Court of Appeal is bound by the House of Lords but is binding on all courts below it. Below the Court of Appeal, only the Divisional Courts and the High Court create precedent. Inferior courts and tribunals do not create precedent, but have to abide by the precedents set in higher courts.

Judges do not make law, they provide interpretations of existing laws which then form Judicial/Legal Precedents.

Answer 4

eh??? nothing to do with the Judge or any Court - the law is as stated in the Statue Books and can't just be changed by a Judge or Sheriff etc.