Magalski v. Maryland Casualty Co.

I

Once again we are urged by an unhappy litigant to encroach on the legislative prerogative. Once again we decline to do so. Even in those instances where the result sought appears salutary, we are cautious not to enact legislation under the guise of judicial review of legislative acts, for in so doing the fundamental constitutional concept of the separation of powers is eroded. Fundamentally, the office of a judge is jus dicere, not jus dare; the judge “. . . is not delegated to pronounce a new law, but to maintain and expound the old one.” 1 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Law, 69. 1 And, as…