Rule in United Kingdom

Definition of The Thin Skull Rule

This is sometimes known as the eggshell skull rule.

Concept of Rule

The following is an old definition of Rule [1], a term which has several meanings:1, (verb) (1) To hold, lay down, decide: as, to rule testimony admissible as evidence, to rule on a proposition of law. Overrule. To rule against, reject, refuse to allow or receive: as, to overrule a motion, a plea, an exception. Also, for a court to decide a question of law contrary to a decision in a former case. whence (the word(s) which follow it are derivatives from the same root word) overruled case. Compare Reverse. (2) To make or enter a formal order or direction.

Alternative Meaning

(Noun)Such order or mandate itself. Compare Motion. A court, or its officer, grants a rule to show cause, to make a return, to file a declaration or a plea, to make a reference, to strike off an entry, etc. Peremptory rule. An order which is to be observed promptly and fully, without argument contra.Rule absolute. Said of a rule to show cause which has been heard and a peremptory order therein made that a party do as required in the rule. Rule nisi or rule to show cause. A direction that a party do, or be permitted to do, a specified act unless (nisi) a legal reason be shown or appears for his not doing it. A day is appointed for hearing a rule to show cause why the thing requested should not be done. At this hearing, after argument, and, perhaps, the consideration of testimony, the rule is either discharged or made absolute, according as the objection is or is not sufficient in law. Rule of course. A rule granted by an officer of a court, as a matter of routine, and without application being first made to a judge of the court itself. Called also office rule, and, formerly, side-bar rule. Rule day. A day designated under a rule of court for the performance of some duty required of a litigant. Rule of court. An order made by a court of record. (1) A special order in a particular case. See Reference. (2) A general requirement, usually in writing, applicable to all cases of a class. General rules of court. Standing orders, made by a court, to regulate its general practice. Express power to establish rules of court has been confen-ed by statute upon courts of record. At the same time, such courts have an inherent right to make rules to regulate their practice and to expedite the determination of suits and other proceedings, the rules being consistent with the constitution and laws of the State. Otherwise, the public business could not be dispatched. Regularity, justice, and dispatch are the objects of rules of court. They are indispensable to routine business. But they cannot abridge a right secured by positive law: as, alter the general law of evidence, or the statutory manner of serving a notice; nor add terms to an arbitration law; nor supersede a special rule where that is contemplated; nor supersede a statute; nor affect jurisdiction. In one case, an imperfection in a statute was remedied by means of a rule. It is not essential that a rule of practice be estab- lished by a written order: it may, be by a uniform mode of proceeding. A rule of court must operate prospectively. An attorney is bound to tnow the rules of his own court. The expediency of a rule is determined by the sound dlscretionof the court by whose authority it is established. Only where wrong is manifest will that discretion be interfered with. Discretion in applying a rule to a particular case must be authorized by the rule itself. For the sake of certainty, no departure should be made from a plain, written, express rule.0 The court is the best judge of its own rules; an appellate court will not reverse for a construction not palpably erroneous.1 Many regulations of practice introduced into England by statute have been the objects of rules of court in this country.2 The court of common pleas of Philadelphia had written rules as early as 1788. Collections were published in Western Pennsylvania in 1791, 1796, and 1811.3 The Judiciiiry Act of 1789, § 17, confers authority on the Federal courts to establish all rules necessary for the ordinary conduct of their business, not repugnant to the laws of the United States. The act empowera the Supreme Court to regulate the practice of, the district and circuit courts; and empowers those courts themselves to make such regulations of their practice as may be necessary to advance justice and to prevent delays.4 Like power la conferred upon the court of claims.5 Rules in admiralty are promulgated in accordance with a special statute.6 The equity rules prescribed by the Supreme Court bind all the Federal courts. The rules of the high court of chancery in England are of force as analogies. But Congress has not empowered the circuit and district courts to make rules touching the mode of taking testimony. 3. A canon; a principle: as, a rule of construction, a case governed by a certain rule, a rule established by or deducible from the decisions or authorities; a rule of law, of practice or procedure, of evidence or of pleading, qsee, in this resource, the term Rule of property. An established principle regulating the ownership and transfer of property. A decision with respect to the law under which property is held, enjoyed, and transferred, is some times said to create or indicate the ” rule of property.” Where a course of decisions, whether founded upon statutes or not, have become rules of property as laid down by the highest courts of the state, by which is, meant the rules governing the descent, transfer, or sale of property, and the rules which affect the title and possession thereof, they are to be treated, by the Federal courts, as the laws of that state. Rules and regulations. Power ” to establish a uniform rule of naturalization,” ” to make all needful rules and regulations respecting property belonging to the United States,” “to regulate commerce,” gives plehary control over those subjects. But power to make rules and regulations on a particular subject is, in cases, limited to the mode and form, the time and circumstance, and not to the substance.^ 5 See Regulate.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Meaning of Rule provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)