Precedent System

Precedent System

Introduction

The idea of precedence is also strong in groups other than the legal groups. There are many social, religious and cultural groups which apply informal rules in their decisions about the things that need to be done. They follow the same principles which have been followed by the people before them. The concept of justice requires that similar cases shall be treated in a similar way. This is the reason that the principle if precedence is one of the most important principles of the judicial systems around the globe. Precedent law is also one of the most important laws in the judicial system of United kingdom. Judicial precedence is a doctrine of the law system of the United Kingdom. Precedent is a principle in the common law legal system. A precedent is a rule or a principle that is well established in a former case of the legal nature. The principle or the rule is persuasive for or binding on all the other courts or tribunals when they are deciding cases which have similar facts or issues. Precedent is the principle which helps in achieving the goals of the common system of law. The common law system works on the principle that the similar outcomes should come for the corresponding cases without any biases or prejudice. The principle of precedent helps in the achievement of this goal of the law system. The Black's Law Dictionary defines precedent, as a rule which a court decides for the first time for a particular case, and is then referred to in deciding other cases of the similar nature, by the court. The precedent law is at equal footing with the regulatory law and the statutory law. This makes precedent a third kind of law in the judicial system (Fafinski, Finch, 2007).

Discussion

Certainty is something that is desirable of the law. Once a judge declares that the common law is going to be such and such, the other judges need to follow suit. This follows the principle of stare decisis, that whatever is decided will stand and will be followed in the future decisions by other judges. When judges do not follow precedence, then this is going to induce uncertainty of a significant extent into the law.

Types of Precedent

There are three types of precedent in the common law system of United Kingdom. They are verticality, Horizontality and Binding precedent.

Verticality

A common law generally has a supreme court, intermediate appellate courts and the trial courts. Almost all the trial proceedings take place in the inferior courts. It is binding on the inferior courts to follow the precedent of the appellate courts, as well as, those of the Supreme Court. The appellate courts are to follow the precedent of only the decisions of the Supreme Court.

Horizontality

Horizontality is the idea that all the judges are bound and should respect the decisions of the other judges of the same level and anytime. This is called horizontality of precedent.

Binding Precedent

The third type of precedent is the Binding ...