A Deal Book story in the New York Times reports on a "stinging rebuke" of Delaware Chancery Court Judge Leo Strine, Jr., who, the story says, has been described as "an iconoclast, genius and humorist." Strine's 11-page digression in a recent opinion drew this tutorial from the Delaware Supreme Court:
[T]he court’s excursus on this issue strayed beyond the proper purview and function of a judicial opinion. “Delaware law requires that a justiciable controversy exist before a court can adjudicate properly a dispute brought before it.” We remind Delaware judges that the obligation to write judicial opinions on the issues presented is not a license to use those opinions as a platform from which to propagate their individual world views on issues not presented. A judge’s duty is to resolve the issues that the parties present in a clear and concise manner. To the extent Delaware judges wish to stray beyond those issues and, without making any definitive pronouncements, ruminate on what the proper direction of Delaware law should be, there are appropriate platforms, such as law review articles, the classroom, continuing legal education presentations, and keynote speeches.
