Doctrine

Doctrine in the United States

A principle or rule of law. Doctrine is normally defined or set by a court decision and used in subsequent cases raising the same legal questions. The term doctrine is used in reference to legal precedents. The subject matter of the rule is often captured in a doctrinal title, e.g., the judicial immunity doctrine. While narrowly scoped principles may be called doctrine, the term is usually reserved for broader principles of substantial policy importance. The Exclusionary Rule (Judicial Effects and Policies) is such a doctrine. That doctrine requires that improperly obtained evidence is inadmissible in criminal trials. Similarly, the preferred position doctrine holds that legislative enactments that affect First Amendment rights be scrutinized very closely by courts.

See Also

Exclusionary Rule (Judicial Effects and Policies) Precedence (Judicial Effects and Policies) Preferred Position Doctrine (Judicial Effects and Policies).

Analysis and Relevance

Doctrine is established through the convergence of several elements or influences. Once established, doctrine remains intact, expands over time, or eventually contracts and is replaced. One doctrine often spins off from another doctrine. A question before a court is distinguished from the question already addressed by a line of legal precedents, and a separate doctrine is established. The factors that most heavily influence the development of doctrine are the political setting and the policy priorities of the individual judges hearing a case. An example is the separate-but-equal doctrine developed by the Court in Plessyv. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537: 1896). The doctrine held that racial segregation does not necessarily violate the Equal Protection Clause. So long as separate facilities were equivalent for both races, state-mandated segregation was constitutional. This doctrine survived into the 1950s when a Supreme Court, composed of different justices with very different value orientations and operating in a different political environment, reexamined the issue. The doctrine was formally abandoned by the Court in Brown v. Board of Education I (347 U.S. 483: 1954).

Notes and References

  1. Definition of Doctrine from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

Doctrine in the United States

Doctrine

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled DOCTRINEIn constitutional law as in other pursuits of revelation, initiates commonly refer to “doctrines”: bodies of rules or principles either authoritatively declared or systematically advocated. Some such doctrines have been simple; the original package doctrine is an example. Others, such as
(read more about Constitutional law entries here).

Some Constitutional Law Popular Entries


Posted

in

, ,

by

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *