On Tuesday 06 June 2006 08:21, Thijs Kinkhorst wrote: > On Tue, 2006-06-06 at 07:41 -0700, Mike Bird wrote: > > Reading a proposed contract or license in any way other than > > literally and pedantically is "dumb". Some actions are so > > dumb that no nicer adjective is correct. Judges are like > > compilers. Modulo judge bugs (which can usually be fixed on > > appeal) judges process legal source files literally and > > pedantically. > > I believe you are quite incorrect - judges are far from automatic. They > interpret each and every individual case on its own merit, circumstances > and context, on the intention of the law, and take the personal > situation of the involved parties in consideration. The keyword is > "reason": a judge will try to decide in a way that he/she considers to > be the most reasonable, not the most literal.
[Dropping -devel] Hi Thijs, The DLJ is governed by California law and controlling US federal law [DLJ (14)]. Under the explicit terms [DLJ (14)] and under the parole evidence rule the judge cannot consider anything other than the literal pedantic terms of the contract and subsequent written amendments signed by both parties. Evidence of intent may be introduced where the contract is ambiguous. You have not made any showing that the contract is ambiguous with respect to indemnification, and thus evidence of intent is inadmissible. The personal situations of the parties is inadmissible except where the door is opened by the contract itself or by relevant legislation. You have made no showing that the door has been opened, and thus evidence of personal situations is inadmissible. Judges have broad discretion in some matters: the orderly conduct of proceedings, contempt, evidentiary rulings, ... However judges literally and pedantically follow the constitutions, statutes, ordinances, regulations, licenses, and contracts. If there is any variance from this it is when a party fails to timely raise a relevant point in argument. --Mike Bird -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
