Judicial Precedent

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  • Created by: lucyg102
  • Created on: 22-05-14 14:06

Judicial precedent refers to the source of law where past decisions of judges, create law for future judges to follow.  

Within the English Legal System, precedent operates whereby higher courts bind lower courts and some courts bind themselves, for example, the Supreme Court binds the Magistrates Court and all other courts, and the Court of Appeal binds itself. 

Precedent is based upon the doctrine of stare decisis, which loosely translated means, 'stand by what has been decided and do not unsettle the established'. This supports the idea of fairness and provides certainty and consistency within the law. 

For precedent to operate, the legal reasons for past decisions need to be known and these can be found in a written statement at the end…

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