What is meant by legal certainty and why is it sometimes described as an illusion?

legal certainty, the illusion that the law is, or can be made, a compre- hensive, eternised, set of rules which embrace all possible legal disputes. and settle them in advance (/). An unfortunate corollary of this funda- mental myth, in Frank’s view, was an insistent effort to achieve pre-

What is meaning of legal uncertainty?

Accordingly, by “legal uncertainty” I mean the situation that obtains when the rule that is relevant to a given act or transaction is said by informed attorneys to have an expected official outcome at or near the 0.5 level of predictability.

What is legal certainty EU law?

The principle of legal certainty is one of the general principles of European Union law1. It requires that the effect of a legal provision must be clear and predictable to those persons who are subject to it2. It also requires that EU legislation enables those concerned to acquaint themselves with the precise extent.

What is legal certainty and predictability?

An important part of these principles is that laws should be sufficiently clear and predictable, so that individuals can plan their conduct in the knowledge of the legal consequences that will flow from it. Competition laws have frequently been criticised for lacking certainty and predictability.

What is the legal certainty test?

A test in CIVIL PROCEDURE designed to establish that a complaint has met the minimum amount in controversy required for a court to have jurisdiction to hear the case.

Why is legal certainty important?

The principle of legal certainty is of fundamental importance for law and society: it has been vital in stabilising normative expectations and in providing a framework for social interaction, as well as defining the scope of individual freedom and political power.

How do sources of law provide certainty for lawyers?

The main advantage of using precedent is that it provides certainty in the law. As cases with sufficiently similar material facts are bound by past decisions, it provides an idea of how the case will be decided. Another advantage is that it provides consistent decisions within the law, which also ensures fairness.

Why do we need certainty in law?

2 The need for certainty is part of the human search for order and security. In order to regulate the use of power – a fundamental aspect of the law – lawyers and jurists often seek to impose certainty through the reduction of legal principle into textually expressed statements of logical rules.