Stare Decisis

Stare decisis is one of the most important doctrines in common law. It is the doctrine under which courts adhere to precedent on questions of law in order to ensure certainty, consistency, and stability in the administration of justice.1 More specifically, it has been defined as "to stand by decided cases; to uphold precedents; to maintain former adjudications."2 In Latin, the term translates to "to stand by that which is decided." As practiced in the United States, the rule of stare decisis is matter of technique. Basically, in whatever way courts reach their conclusion, they are expected to place the situation they are judging within the generalized class of some existing decision. In doing so, they may, if they choose, disregard the opinion of that decision entirely. There are two types of stare decisis. Vertical stare decisis is the best known one, and it requires that once a high court makes a holding on an issue, lower courts are required to follow that precedent. Stare decisis also applies to courts of equal rank, including the deciding court itself. This is called horizontal stare decisis. Although one can easily argue whether the doctrine of stare decisis is a good one, or a bad one, it is justified by the desire to maintain continuity and stability in the law, and also by the ideas of justice and fairness. It promotes justice by establishing rules that enable many legal disputes to be concluded fairly. It also enhances the legitimacy of the court in two ways. One, by demonstrating that although there are changes in members of the court as time passes, justices still respect the court 's own opinions and two, legitimacy is increased when legal rules are consistently applied and are the product of impersonal and reasoned judgment. Under the doctrine of stare decisis, only a point of law decided in a judicial opinion is binding on other courts as precedent. Questions of fact determined by a court have no binding effect on any subsequent case

Bibliography: 1. Baum, Lawrence. American Courts: Process and Policy 5th Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. 2. Fallon, Richard H. The Dynamic Constitution: An Introduction to American Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press, 2004. 3. O 'Brien, David M. Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics 7th Edition. Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 2005. 4. Smith, Wesley. Theories of Adjudication and the Status of Stare Decisis. L. Goldstein, 1987.