Lee R. Schroeder | The Lima News
Earlier this month, the Ohio Supreme Court decided that a person who openly and nonchalantly stole a leaf blower from a garage was not guilty of the crime of burglary, because the thief did not enter the garage by “force, stealth, or deception,” as required in the Ohio Revised Code.
It can sometimes be difficult to fathom how our legal system can presumably reach results that can appear to be so odd. Actually, this Supreme Court decision demonstrates exactly how the legal system is intended to work.
Clarity in knowing what is legal and what is illegal relies upon judges who interpret the laws that are written by the legislature — in Ohio, the General Assembly — or by executive agencies subject to the legislature’s authority. Nobody should want judges who make decisions on what the judges think is “right” without having the same understandable rulebook of right and wrong being available to the rest of society.
Our legal system works best when laws are well-written, precisely and properly enforced and well-interpreted.
Every law passed by the legislature is typically analyzed by breaking the law’s literal words into components or requirements. Attorneys call these components or requirements “elements”.
For example, there may be a law that says that “No person can drive a blue car on Sundays in June.” This law has five elements:
There must be driving. It must be a car that is driven. The car being driven must be blue. The driving must take place on a Sunday. And the driving must take place in June.
By analyzing the law by elements, a sort of checklist of requirements can be created.
For crimes, generally, the government or prosecutor must prove every element with evidence that is beyond a reasonable doubt.
Thus, a prosecutor might have overwhelming, reliable proof of every element other than one element. In that circumstance, the defense attorney will ask that the case be dismissed without presenting any evidence at all on behalf of the defendant, and the case will likely be dismissed.
This process of relying upon detailed laws that are relentlessly interpreted literally and in parts is the foundation of our shared understanding of, and peace of mind concerning, what is legal and what is illegal in our society.
The primary responsibility in our legal system is for the legislature to write clear and precise laws.
Second, parties to lawsuits must be precise and exact in satisfying every element of every law that is alleged to be at issue or alleged to be violated.
Third, judges must employ the same literal and meticulous analyses of laws in order to ensure that every element of every law is satisfied.
Therefore, when a lawsuit concludes with a result that can seem clearly wrong or incorrect, it is not necessarily the judge’s fault. Precise laws that are precisely proven by prosecutors or attorneys and precisely interpreted by judges lead to correct results.
For those who may dislike the outcome in the aforementioned burglary case, the solution is to rewrite the law more precisely.
Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney at Schroeder Law LLC in Putnam County. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at [email protected] or at 419-659-2058. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.
