Floodgates of litigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Floodgates of litigation - Essay Example Thus, there is some eminent fear that giving certain ruling in some cases has the likelihood of opening floodgates of litigation, which may overwhelm the courts and thus affects their efficiency, owing to the fact that there are still many cases and issues pending in courts, which have not been resolved yet1. However, this issue is controversial, since there is a feeling that; considering the aspect of opening floodgates of litigation while making legal determinations is unjustifiable. This is because, such a consideration is not part of the interpretation of the law, which is the prime function of the courts that separates them from the other arms of the government, so that they can act independently in interpreting the law2. Therefore, this discussion seeks to investigate why courts are concerned about floodgates of litigation, with a view to assessing where within the tort of Negligence, an evidence of this concern can be identified. The advocates of the concept of the floodgates of litigation argues that if a court takes certain course of action, it is likely to lead to a dramatic increase in legal litigations, which may affect the courts ability to discharge its duties. This is because; the court may not even be able to address other cases effectively due to the unmanageable number of litigations3. On the other hand, the critics of the concept of floodgates of litigation observes that making such a consideration while giving a legal determination is against the mandate of the courts, since there is no evident principle that provides for the courts to consider workload as a factor, while making a legal determination2. ... There are certain clauses of the law that seem to be so much ambiguous, so that their truthful interpretation becomes impossible4. Such clauses are vivid in their definition of terms, or provision of remedies, that the judges cannot apply them with certainty while determining cases. In the cases of such confusing rules, there are chances that giving a certain interpretation of such clauses would pave a way for further parallel interpretations, which would see many cases introduced to the courts, based on the same or the parallel interpretations made5. In this respect, it becomes necessary to invoke the concept of floodgates of litigation by the judges, so that they can prevent the occurrence of parallel interpretations and the consequent dramatic increase in the number of cases filed with the courts, based on such interpretations. It is upon this observation that a judge can look into the effect of giving a certain legal determination, and thus decide to forfeit it, based on the fact that it may lead to the introduction of an overwhelming number of cases to the courts. The second circumstance, under which the courts may be compelled to invoke the concept of floodgates of litigation, is under situation s where the provisions of the law are overly broad6. There are certain clauses of the law that can be interpreted so widely, that the interpretation will encompass some elements that contrasts previous interpretations, or gives new interpretations of the law that had not been applied previously. In case of an overly broad clause which leads to a contrasted interpretation with preceding legal interpretations, chances are high that the parties involved in such