Lecture 2: Binding Precedent and Reading a Case Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Precedent?

A

Deciding what cases should and shouldn’t be followed

Stare Decisis - let the decision stand – like cases should be treated alike

Vertical Precedent – up and down the judicial hierarchy e.g. CA case relevant to SC and HC

Horizontal Precedent – on the same level e.g. CA

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2
Q

Why do we have Precedent?

A

Act of Settlement 1700 – judges made independent + not influenced by politics

Judges to ‘Discover and Declare the law that has always been’ – Declaratory in Theory – William Blackstone

Objective dispassionate study of the authorities - fiction
 Judges made law not just declaring law

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3
Q

Precedent relates to the way that decisions in earlier cases are applied in subsequent cases:

A
  1. Cases with the same or similar material facts (facts which are legally relevant) should be decided in the same way
  2. Decisions made in the higher-level courts carry greater weight than those lower in the court hierarchy (bound by courts higher or equal to them)
  3. Distinctions made between importance of things that address the principle of law on which the decision is based (ratio decidendi - reason for the decision) and those issues that are peripheral (obiter dicta – things said in passing)
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4
Q

What is ratio decidendi:

A

Reason for the decision

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5
Q

What is obiter dicta:

A

Things said in passing

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6
Q

How do courts know what principle a case embodies?

A

They distinguish between the ratio of the judgement and the obiter dicta

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7
Q

Distinguish between the ratio of the judgement and the obiter dicta:

A
  • A statement that is the ratio of an earlier case does not mean it is automatically binding on later cases
  • The same for obiter statements
  • Depends on the relationship between the court in which original decision made and case in which precedent applied
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8
Q

What is the ‘Ratio’?

A
  • Ratio is not the outcome of the case (Decision)
  • It is the rule of law used by the judge or judges to decide the legal problem raised by the facts of the case
  • Isolate material (legally relevant) facts
  • Distinguish from Obiter
  • Up to the next court to decide – judicial discretion
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9
Q

Rules of Precedent:

A

Binding – Facts must be similar, court must follow hierarchy and ratio must have same/similar legal reasoning, must be applied in later cases

Persuasive – Facts similar but not directly analogous, facts analogous + ratio of court lower in hierarchy, facts analogous + obiter of court higher in hierarchy, facts analogous + dissenting judgement of court higher in hierarchy, facts analogous + legal rule outside of courts of England + Wales, no imposition on the courts to follow in later cases providing no binding precedent

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10
Q

Precedent of the Courts:

A
  • Court of Justice of the EU – binding on EU law
  • SC (formerly HL) – 1966 Practice Statement (Judicial Precedent) – not bound by previous decisions
  • CA Civil & Criminal – 3 exceptionsYoung v Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd) (Criminal wider discretion R v Gould)
  • Div Courts and High Court – binding by own decisions subject to similar exceptions
  • Div Courts not bound by HC
  • HC Judge decisions binding on lower courts but not HC Judges
  • Crown, County, Family, Magistrate’s – no precedent other than Crown where strong persuasion
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11
Q

Human Rights:

A
  • European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
  • Section 2(a) Human Rights Act 1998 – decisions of ECHR in relation to interpretation of ‘Convention Right’ to be taken ‘into account’ by SC (not binding)
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12
Q

Avoiding Stare Decisis:

A
  • Overruling – overturns decision of lower court on different case
  • Reversing – overturns decision of lower court on same case
  • Disapproving – criticism
  • Distinguishing – materially different on facts (Balfour v Balfour (1919) and Merritt v Merritt (1971))
  • Subsequent statutory rule
  • Per incuriam
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13
Q

Summary of Precedent:

A

Same legal issues = same reasoning

‘Ratio Decidendi’ = binding

‘Obiter Dictum’ = can be persuasive in later cases

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14
Q

Judges alter/avoid precedents by:

A

Overruling

Distinguishing

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