Week 1 Written Assignment
1. What is this doctrine? What does this doctrine have to do with the American legal
system?
The doctrine of stare decisis makes judges follow established precedents that are
within their judicial system. This doctrine allows the courts to be more stable by
following something that has been established before in a prior case. This doctrine
marked a turning point in the American legal system. Unlike laws in other judicial
systems, the law in America is a judge-made one. This means that the judges try to
maintain a form of continuity with all their cases by looking at prior ones and the
decisions that were made.
2. Is the appellate court likely to reverse the trial court’s findings with respect to the
facts? Explain.
The appellate court is willing to reverse the decision if the evidence contradicts
the findings. Evidence is checked by the trial judges in order use what is reliable and
discard anything that is not. These judges alongside the jury are given the opportunity to
see the evidence and even observe the witnesses from the case. The appellate court can’t
come to a decision about what witnesses are credible or even about the evidence because
they won’t have the experience first-handedly to make judgments.
3. What is the issue in this set of facts? What rule applies? What should be the result on
the application of the rule? Why?
The issue in this case is that the president believes that since he was not notified
that the judgment should be set aside when in fact, Chase mailed correctly the summons
to the corporation. The rule that applies here is service of process. Chase mailed correctly
the summons and a copy of the complaint to the president of the corporation. This fulfills
the service of process rule. The decision that should be made is to not grant Drivers Edge
motion to set aside the judgment. Chase complied with the service of process rule by