Jus Dicere

views updated

JUS DICERE

(Latin: "To say [what] the law [is].") This is the traditional function of courts, and it is usually understood as a limitation upon their power (jus dicere, et non jus dare). "It is emphatically the province of the judicial department to say what the law is"—Chief Justice john marshall in marbury v. madison (1803).

Dennis J. Mahoney
(1986)

More From encyclopedia.com