ABSTRACT
The main function of the judge is to reach a solution in a dispute by applying the law to the facts. As we have seen, the law is derived from various sources, the two principal ones being statute and case law. We describe our judicial process as an adversarial one, in which the judge is an arbiter dependent on the presentation of oral argument by counsel for each party. The judge waits to be persuaded by the strength of arguments put to him and, on the whole, does not intervene or conduct his own researches into the law, less so the facts. In reaching decisions, the judge may be applying an area of the law found in case law (past decisions of judges) or interpreting statutory provisions. A decision of the court in which a statute has been interpreted may in turn be used by a later judge and, in that sense, the decision may add to the body of precedent.
