Hard Case Law and Legal Definition
A hard Case refers to a lawsuit involving equities. In a hard case, a judge is tempted to stretch or even disregard a principle of law at issue but does not do so. The expression, “hard cases make bad law” was evolved from such hard cases. In Schack v. McKey, 100 Ill. App. 294, 302 (Ill. App. Ct. 1902), the court held that the expression “hard cases make bad law” is an expression of the wisdom of maintaining established rules of legal procedure instead of disregarding them to meet imaginary contingencies in particular cases. A hard case involves hardship upon a plaintiff to be without a remedy. In addition, a hard case is apt to introduce bad law and leads to distortion of judgment.
