GENERAL PRINCIPLES 17 
10. Judicial Decisions. Inasmuch as legal dis- 
cussions and text-books deal chiefly with the re- 
ports of judicial decisions, it is necessary to clear- 
ly understand what is meant. Discussions of 
statutes, irrespective of decisions, are of very lit- 
tle practical value, for statutes are often changed 
as fast as they are made; and one illegal statute 
frequently begets several others equally vicious 
before its harmful course is checked by a judicial 
condemnation. On the other hand, the same court 
may give seemingly conflicting decisions relative 
to the same general point, because the statute has 
been changed in the meantime by the legislature; 
yet the decisions are really harmonious, because 
the outcome of the same principle. Though in 
some states there are provisions for getting an 
opinion from the court without having a case 
before it, such conditions are uncommon, and the 
opinion thus rendered may be inconclusive. To 
get a valuable decision there should be a full con- 
sideration of all sides, and this is practically im- 
possible unless the various positions shall be ar- 
gued. This happens when a ‘‘case’’ is before the 
court. But the case is generally heard originally 
before a judge in one of the lower courts. His 
duty is more particularly to apply the law to the 
individual matter before him. His attention is 
directed especially to the facts, rather than to 
legal interpretation, and when he renders his 
decision he is very likely to be unconsciously 
biased by personal feelings, or by the surround- 
ings. The decisions in these lower courts are sel- 
dom published, and they are of relatively little 
value. 
