Judicial Precedent - Paper 1 Flashcards
What is the meaning of judicial precedent?
It is the principle that past decisions of judges create law for future judges to follow. This source of law is known as ‘case law’ or ‘common law.’
What is the meaning of stare decisis?
Stand by what has been decided and do not unsettle the established
How does stare decisis work?
When a case has similar facts to an older case decided by a higher court, the judge in the present case must follow the decision of the higher court and apply the same principles of law in their own case
What is the ratio decidendi?
Means ‘reason for the deciding,’ and is the binding part of the judgement as it creates a precedent for future judges to follow
What is the obiter dicta?
Means ‘other things said,’ part of judgement which does not form the ratio so can be used as persuasive precedent
Give an example of an obita dicta
Lord Denning’s ‘swarm of bees’ analogy in Hill v Baxter
What is the meaning of law reporting?
Created by the Council of Law Reporting which contains the full judgement of the case so that future cases can follow the decisions
Explain the hierarchy of the courts?
Lower courts are bound to follow the precedents set by courts on the same level or higher
What is the Practice Statement?
Since 1966, the Practice Statement has allowed the Supreme Court to change the law if it believes an earlier case was wrongly decided
Give an example of when the Practice Statement was used
R v Shivpuri, which overruled Anderton v Ryan
What is the meaning of distinguishing?
If the facts are materially different then there is no obligation to follow the previous case, an example is R v Brown and R v Wilson
What is meant by overruling?
Court is asked to review whether a precedent created by a court lower in the hierarchy is correct law
What are the advantages of precedent?
It leads to consistency and fairness in the law
It makes the law flexible
What are the disadvantages of precedent?
It can make the law rigid, and lead to complexity
