Judges – law finders or lawmakers?

THE superior courts perform a number of noble and indispensable functions in a society governed by the rule of law. Today’s column will deal with only one such function: the judiciary’s indirect role in law-making in the field of constitutional law.

The issue of whether judges are law finders or law makers is at the heart of judicial philosophy and constitutional theory, yet there is no agreement on whether judges make law, how they do it, and whether judicial lawmaking is a good or bad thing.