bad facts make bad law

English

Alternative forms

• bad facts, bad law
• easy cases at times produce bad law

Proverb

bad facts make bad law

1. Unusual circumstances can lead lawmakers or judges to set precedent that applies poorly to most situations.
   • 2004, Eugene Soar, “McKinney v. Richitelli: Abandoning Parents and Presumptive Penalties”, in North Carolina Central Law Review, volume 26, number 2, retrieved December 13, 2014:

     The tired adage "bad facts make bad law" is given new life in a recent decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

   • 1992, Clarence Thomas, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Just as "bad facts make bad law," so too odd facts make odd law.

   • 2019, Eric Kuhn and John Fleck, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     There is an adage among lawyers that "bad facts make bad law." By the 1950s, the "bad facts" that came from ignoring LaRue, Stabler, and Silbert—the disconnect between the paper allocations of the Law and the River and the wet water of the actual Colorado—were driving the basin towards bad law.