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Re:South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
by dang on Saturday November 30, 2019 @07:17PM
(#21672933)
> You are clearly not a lawyer. Stay within your own lane.
It's against the site rules to be rude in comments here. Would you mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and sticking to the rules? When someone else is wrong, it's a great help to provide correct information, but please don't break the guidelines while doing so.
Your comment would be just fine without those first two sentences.
Re:South Carolina judges often lack formal training in the law
by danielisaac on Saturday November 30, 2019 @04:04PM
(#21672136)
This is my lane.
Simply untrue in common law countries (e.g. the US). Criminal law is absolutely driven by judicial opinions and statutory interpretation.
> In most states, the formal rules of evidence don't apply.
This isn't about evidence. It's about interpreting many doctrines that vary wildly between states. A single statute (re: defenses, attempt, conspiracy, the requisite mens rea to hold someone liable) can yield totally different interpretations.