In law school, in trial advocacy class they tell you, “Never say ‘clearly’ during argument.” They say that because if it were “clear” then it would be dumb for you to argue about it. In short don’t be “clearly” dumb.
Anyway, there should be a class for appellate judges, and it should say this, “Never write “the well accepted rule is …” unless you are talking about a well accepted rule, or you will “clearly” look dumb.
In People v. Greco, Our own 2nd District Appellate court wrote: “The well-accepted rule in this state is that erratic driving, including weaving within a single lane, is sufficient to justify a traffic stop.” -People v. Greco
A lonely gavel in an empty courtroom.
This is wrong for several reasons: First there is “clearly” no rule for what “erratic driving” is.
Second, “weaving within a single lane” is not a violation of the law. The closest I can guess, and I must guess because they don’t say, is that they are suggesting a violation of “Improper Lane Usage:”
Sec. 11-709. Driving on roadways laned for traffic. Whenever any roadway has been divided into 2 or more clearly marked lanes for traffic the following rules in addition to all others consistent herewith shall apply.
(a) A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be moved from such lane until the driver has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.
Ignore the horrible wording by our legislature (that is fodder for several other posts), let’s just consider here what it takes to violate the law for improper lane:
A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane
Is there anything about that sentence that suggests to you that weaving within a lane is something this rule talks about … umm, me neither.
So, we can probably cobble together something that goes like this: It is well settled that our appellate courts are “clearly” filled with people who got there by politics, rather than making any actual sense.
But then I shouldn’t use the word “clearly” there, should I.
Law Dude, Ray Flavin, Trial Attorney in McHenry County Illinois. His law offices are located across the street from the McHenry County IL Courthouse in Woodstock, IL. Visit Ray’s other website @ www.rayflavin.com.
Sometimes he reads the case law and slowly shakes his head.
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