Young v Bristol case

Question 1

BRISTOL CASE

Answer 1

→ Court of Appeal
Bound by the decisions of the House of Lords/Supreme Court Bound by own previous decisions UNLESS in the following cases (was established in Young
v. Bristol Aeroplane Co (1946) AC 163 per Lord Greene MR):

The Court of Appeal is not strictly bound by its previous decisions if those decisions were given “per incuriam,” meaning they didn’t consider all relevant laws and had a major defect in material reasoning.

Additionally, the Court of Appeal can choose between conflicting precedents, especially when faced with contradictory decisions made in the past.

The court is not bound by its earlier decisions if they were not expressly overruled by the House of Lords or Supreme Court but are contrary to subsequent decisions by these higher courts.
This approach allows the Court of Appeal to avoid applying a binding precedent so strictly that it would lead to a decision likely to be overturned on appeal due to later rulings by higher courts

So, there are actually 3 very logical exceptions, but it’s not the kind of thing the court of
appeal is supposed to decide for itself so the house of lords said we will allow these
exceptions to the horizontal binding precedent for the court of appeal but that’s it.

So those are the only basis upon which the court of appeal can go against their own
decisions. It’s logic because it’s going to be overturned by the house of lords anyways.