Also known as: existing law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The corpus of positive law currently in force. It encompasses statutes, precedents, and other binding rules that courts must apply to decide disputes.
Levi Lowe sued Legacy Motors for breach after the company refused to honor a written warranty. His lawyer certified that the claim rested on settled precedent interpreting identical warranty language. The court accepted the filing because the contentions tracked existing doctrine without needing any extension.
Lucas Lee faced a theft prosecution. His counsel contested every element at trial even though the facts were undisputed. The defense was proper because the attorney could require the state to prove each element under current doctrine.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Lola Langley responded to requests for production by stating that all responsive emails had been produced after a vendor search. She certified the response only after confirming the search covered active servers and archived files. The certification satisfied the rule because it rested on existing discovery standards.
Lunar Dynamics moved to dismiss a coverage suit by citing a controlling Supreme Court decision that interpreted identical policy language. The motion relied solely on that settled holding rather than any novel theory.
Logan Lane was charged under a city ordinance that had never been applied to his conduct. His lawyer argued that prior precedent already rendered the statute unconstitutionally vague on its face.
Lucy Liu refused to answer questions in a state proceeding. Her attorney relied on a Supreme Court decision incorporating the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to the states.
Lex lata consists of the statutes, precedents, and rules already in force. A lawyer may rely on it directly. An argument to extend or reverse that body of law must be identified as nonfrivolous and presented separately under the certification rules.
A lawyer may rely solely on lex lata when the claims or contentions are warranted by existing statutes or binding precedent. No separate nonfrivolous extension argument is required in that situation.
Yes. The signer must certify that the response is consistent with the rules and warranted by existing law or a nonfrivolous argument for change. A bare assertion without reasonable inquiry into current standards violates the rule.
Yes. The lawyer may defend by requiring the prosecution to establish each element under current doctrine. This remains true even if the defense does not contest the underlying facts.
…statute before us falls within the commerce power would not expand the scope of that Clause. Rather, it simply would apply pre-existing law to changing economic circumstances. See Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States , 379 U. S. 241, 251 (1964). It would recognize that, in today's economic world, gun-related violence…