Like my brothers who sit with me, I am extremely reluctant to decide anything except what is necessary for the special case, because I believe by lon… - Charles Bowen, Baron Bowen

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Like my brothers who sit with me, I am extremely reluctant to decide anything except what is necessary for the special case, because I believe by long experience that judgments come with far more weight and gravity when they come upon points which the Judges are bound to decide, and I believe that obiter dicta, like the proverbial chickens of destiny, come home to roost sooner or later in a very uncomfortable way to the Judges who have uttered them, and are a great source of embarrassment in future cases. Therefore I abstain from putting a construction on more than it is necessary to do for this particular case.

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About Charles Bowen, Baron Bowen

Charles Synge Christopher Bowen, Baron Bowen QC, PC (1 January 1835 – 10 April 1894) was an English judge.

Also Known As

Birth Name: Charles Synge Christopher Bowen
Alternative Names: Charles Bowen Charles Synge Christopher Bowen, Baron Bowen Charles Synge Christopher Bowen, Baron Bowen of Colwood Bowen LJ
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Additional quotes by Charles Bowen, Baron Bowen

Stereotyped rules laid down by judicial writers cannot be accepted as infallible canons of interpretation in these days, when commercial transactions have altered in character, and increased in complexity; and there can be no hard-and-fast rule by which to construe the multiform commercial agreements with which in modern times we have to deal.

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