Also known as: upholds and applies the law · upholding and applying the law · upheld and applied the law · judicial duty to apply law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial duty requiring judges to decide cases according to the governing legal rules and the evidence presented in the record. The duty extends to managing proceedings so that both sides receive equal opportunity to present and challenge evidence. It prohibits judges from substituting personal experience or off-record information for the law and the facts shown at trial.
Uma Underwood sued Upstream Petroleum in a bench trial alleging discriminatory lending practices. Judge Elena Morales repeatedly dismissed the plaintiffs' statistical evidence by stating that such patterns had never occurred during her own prior banking career. Because the judge substituted her personal background for the unrefuted record evidence, she failed to decide the case on the law and the facts presented.
Ugo Uberti, a sitting judge, testified in a federal proceeding that he had never accepted ex parte DWI pleas. Court records later proved the statements false. The knowing misrepresentation subjected the judge to perjury prosecution and violated the duty to uphold and apply the law faithfully.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Yes. The duty requires judges to base decisions on the law and the evidence presented rather than on personal experience or off-record information. Substituting a judge's own background for unrefuted proof violates the obligation to decide cases fairly and impartially.
Supporting sources
Yes. The duty requires judges to conduct proceedings fairly and impartially toward both parties. One-sided interruptions that favor one side's evidence over the other's undermine impartiality even if the final ruling has not yet been issued.
Supporting sources
No. Private meetings in which one side presents case-specific facts or arguments violate the duty to perform judicial duties fairly and impartially. Such conduct creates both actual and apparent partiality that subjects the judge to discipline.
Supporting sources
Yes when the visit allows one side alone to shape the judge's factual impressions of disputed property features. The absence of the other party and the lack of any record prevent equal participation and undermine the required impartial performance of judicial duties.
Supporting sources