hard cases make bad law
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Unusual situations can lead to poor legal precedents
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Trường hợp đặc biệt có thể tạo ra tiền lệ pháp luật tồi
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “hard cases make bad law” mean?
Unusual situations can lead to poor legal precedents
Is “hard cases make bad law” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.