Precedent is the practice of using earlier court decisions to guide later cases with similar facts or legal questions. Stare decisis means “to stand by things decided,” and it is the principle that courts should usually follow precedent. This matters because it helps make the law stable, predictable, and fair across similar cases.
Without precedent, judges could reach very different results in nearly identical disputes.
Key Facts
- Precedent = a past court decision used as a guide for deciding a later case.
- Stare decisis = the principle that courts should generally follow earlier rulings.
- Binding precedent must be followed by lower courts in the same court system.
- Persuasive precedent may influence a court but does not have to be followed.
- A court may overturn precedent when a prior rule is unworkable, outdated, badly reasoned, or inconsistent with higher law.
- Stability value: following precedent promotes predictability, equal treatment, and public trust in courts.
Vocabulary
- Precedent
- A precedent is an earlier court decision that serves as an example or rule for deciding later similar cases.
- Stare decisis
- Stare decisis is the legal principle that courts should usually follow decisions made in earlier similar cases.
- Binding precedent
- Binding precedent is a prior decision that a court must follow because it comes from a higher court in the same legal system.
- Persuasive precedent
- Persuasive precedent is a prior decision that a court may consider but is not required to follow.
- Overrule
- To overrule a precedent means that a court rejects an earlier legal rule and replaces it with a new one.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Thinking every earlier case is binding precedent. This is wrong because only decisions from higher courts in the same jurisdiction usually bind a court.
- Confusing stare decisis with never changing the law. This is wrong because courts can overturn precedent when there are strong legal reasons to do so.
- Ignoring the facts of the earlier case. This is wrong because precedent applies most strongly when the facts and legal issues are closely similar.
- Assuming persuasive precedent has no value. This is wrong because courts often use persuasive decisions from other jurisdictions to support careful reasoning.
Practice Questions
- 1 A state trial court is deciding a case. It finds 3 past cases: 1 from the state supreme court, 1 from another state’s supreme court, and 1 from a federal trial court. How many of these are clearly binding on the state trial court?
- 2 A court reviews 12 past decisions and finds that 8 support one rule while 4 support a different rule. What fraction and percentage of the decisions support the majority rule?
- 3 A supreme court is asked to overturn a 50-year-old precedent. Explain two reasons the court might keep the precedent and two reasons it might overturn it.