C i, Court of Appeal is bound by its own past decisions. Young v Bristol Aeroplane (1944) is an important case to the CA as this case includes the use of the only three exceptions to this rule which are the court is entitled and bound to decide which of two conflicting decisions of its own it will follow; the court is bound to refuse to follow a decision of its own which, though not expressly overruled, cannot stand with a decision of the House of Lords; the court is not bound to follow a decision of its own if it is satisfied that the decision was given per incuriam. This is where a statute or a rule having statutory effect which would have affected the decision was not brought to the attention of the earlier court, defined as by literally, by carelessness or mistake. Per incuriam would be shown in the case of Williams v Fawcett as it was decided in ignorance of a statute. In the House of Lords, if a previous decision conflicts with the decision the House of Lord’s decision must be followed this is if there are two conflicting decisions they can choose between them as in Starmark Enterprises v CPL Enterprises (2001). The Civil Division of the Court of Appeal is bound by decisions of the House of Lords, and by its own earlier decisions but there are exceptions, and its decisions are binding on all inferior courts. Exceptions to the principle that it is bound by its own earlier decisions arise where such a decisions conflicts with a later decision of the House of Lords or where the earlier decision was given per incuriam (i.e, a relevant statute or case was overlooked). The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal is bound by decisions of the House of Lords, and also by its own previous decisions, but it was a wider power than the Civil Division to overrule its own previous decisions and can do so where the law has been misapplied or misunderstood in the earlier case and injustice may be caused to an appellant. The Criminal Division of the CA has additional flexibility because of a person’s liability which was shown in the cases of R v Gould and R v Rowe. Court of Appeal (Civil Division) does not bind the Court of Appeal (Criminal) and they both persuade each other.
C ii, The Advantages of the Court of Appeal are that it is the final appeal court for most cases before the Supreme Court where it also deals and views with a vast majority of cases. This is because those whom want to appeal in the cases may not be able to afford to go up to the SC. As the House of Lords cannot call for the case to be appealed, the Court of Appeal may also stop any unnecessary appeals to the House of Lords, this may be due to both defences money situations and/or may want to stop any injustice/unfairness against any parties involved in the case. The advantage to the Court of Appeal would be that it improves the flexibility of the doctrine of precedent and also allows justice more quickly.
The disadvantages of the Court of Appeal would be that there could be a reluctance to use the power similar to the House of Lords as they are in the middle of the Hierarchy and if they used the power that is similar to the HL this will cause a reduce in certainty and cause uncertainty which will affect the lower courts as they will not be aware on which precedent to follow. It is notice to undermine the power and role of the House of Lords as a well known judge, Lord Denning, rebels against the HL decisions which undermined their power as it is not good enough for him to follow correctly without causing uncertainty, inconsistency. It could cause the system of precedent to break down; and could cause increased appeals to the Supreme Court.
Brakuje mi ciebie – i miss you as in if you have broken with someone
Ciekawy – interesting
