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Pros And Cons Of Binding Precedent

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Precedent is based on stare decisis, stand by what is decided. Every court is bound to follow any decisions made by a court above it in the hierarchy and appeal courts are generally bound by their own decisions, if the facts are similar. In addition, most appeal courts are generally bound by their own previous decisions. For example, both the Court of Appeal and the Divisional Court of the High Court are usually bound by their own previous decisions.

Judges must follow the ratio decidendi of the case i.e. the legal reason for the decision. This is known as binding precedent. Anything else said in the judgement is known as obiter dicta and is merely persuasive precedent i.e. may be followed e.g. sometimes courts will use decisions of …show more content…

They had to follow their own previous decisions even if they thought the law was wrong. Prior to 1966 the law could only be changed by Parliament. As a result the law was rigid and could not develop. Bad or inappropriate law would remain until changed by Parliament. A good example would be the law on marital rape. In 1736 the House of Lords stated that a man could not be guilty of raping his wife. This remained law until 1991 when the House of Lords used the Practice Direction and the 1736 decision was overruled by the 1991 decision. In R v R (1991) the court stated that rape within marriage is now a …show more content…

However, the House of Lords will not always use the Practice Direction to overrule a previous decision. In C v DPP (1995) concerning criminal liability for children and R v Clegg (1995) concerning self-defence, they refused to change the law. In both of these cases they that if a change was required it was best left to parliament as wider issues were involved.

In R V Simpson (2003) Lord Woolf summed up the House of Lords view of precedent:

“The rules of precedent reflect the practice of the courts and have to be applied bearing in mind that their objective is to assist in the administration of justice. They are of considerable importance because of their role in achieving the appropriate degree of certainty as to the law. This is an important requirement of any system of justice. The principles should not however, be regarded as so rigid that they cannot develop in order to meet contemporary needs.”

3. The Practice Direction refers to the major advantages and disadvantages of judicial precedent. Identify and explain

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