The legal system inherited from England is largely judge-focused. The judges have made the law what it is through their written opinions. To understand that law, we need to study the actual decisions that the judges have written. Further, we need to learn to look at law the way that judges look at law.
In our system of government, judges can only announce the law when deciding real disputes: they can’t just have a press conference and announce a set of legal rules. A court has no power to decide an issue unless it is presented by an actual case or controversy before the court. To look at the law the way that judges do, we need to study actual cases and controversies, just like the judges.
In short, we study real cases and disputes because real cases and disputes historically have been the primary source of law.
