Explain how the doctrine of precedent operates and examine when judges are, or are not, bound to follow decisions in previous case.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Manchester Metropolitan University

BA (Hons) Accounting & Finance

Year 1- 2001/2002

Law Assignment

Assignment Title

"The doctrine of judicial precedent or stare decisis, holds that judges in lower-ranking courts are bound to follow legal principles previously formulated by judges in higher-ranking courts".

Ewan Macintyre

Question

Explain how the doctrine of precedent operates and examine when judges are, or are not, bound to follow decisions in previous case.

Introduction

I am concerned in this assignment to explain how different law courts judge a new case according to the case law or doctrine of precedent. I will explain this question in three sections. Firstly, I will introduce the different law counts in England. Secondly, I will explain what the precedent is. Finally, how the doctrine of precedent operates and examine when judge are, or are not, bound to follow decisions in previous case will be represented.

The courts of law in England consist of five different main level courts. Look at figure 1. They are House of Lords, Court of Appeal, Divisional Courts, High Court, Crown Court and Magistrates' Courts & Country Counts from highest to lowest.

Precedents