Legal formalism

Legal formalism means that when a court is deciding a case, they will only look at the facts and the law, and not look into the background of the situation. It means that the court will be strict and follow the rules exactly, without considering any other information. To use an example, if two people are arguing over a broken promise, the court will not look at the reason behind why the promise was broken and will instead just decide who is right based on the facts and the law.