bad facts make bad law
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.53 in modern English
38
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
4
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
proverb
Unusual circumstances can lead lawmakers or judges to set precedent that applies poorly to most situations.
Example Sentences
- "The tired adage "bad facts make bad law" is given new life in a recent decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court."
- "Just as "bad facts make bad law," so too odd facts make odd law."
- "There is an adage among lawyers that "bad facts make bad law." By the 1950s, the "bad facts" that came from ignoring LaRue, Stabler, and Silbert—the disconnect between the paper allocations of the Law and the River and the wet water of the actual Colorado—were driving the basin towards bad law."
Inflected Forms
bad facts, bad law (alternative)
easy cases at times produce bad law (alternative)