Meaning

When the law makes unfair rules in order to solve uncommon but intractable problems, it will be unfair to more common situations.

Example

Now there is a scene, because a student has hidden fireworks in his bag, the school rules that all students can not carry bags into the school gate. And while that does solve the problem, of the fireworks in the bag forever, it doesn’t do justice to the other well-behaved students.

Origin

The phrase is known in law. It comes from English common law. It has been used in legal debates for two centuries. Judges in the 19th century thought that strange cases should not change everyday law.

Many people credit the idea to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. He did not use these exact words. He shared a similar thought in several legal opinions.

The idea is older than Justice Holmes. It is a long-standing concern in legal thought. Good law must rely on common principles. Good law must apply fairly in most cases. Law should not be made quickly because of rare events. Focusing on unusual cases may make law unbalanced.