What is a precedent in simple terms?

Precedent refers to a court decision that is considered as authority for deciding subsequent cases involving identical or similar facts, or similar legal issues. Precedent is generally established by a series of decisions. Sometimes, a single decision can create precedent.

What is precedent law?

A precedent is a previous instance or case which furnishes an example or rule for subsequent conduct, and a pattern upon which subsequent conduct is based. > Authoritative precedents – a judge is bound to follow. – legal sources of law.

What is a precedent in government?

precedent, in law, a judgment or decision of a court that is cited in a subsequent dispute as an example or analogy to justify deciding a similar case or point of law in the same manner.

What is precedent and why is it important?

The Importance of Precedent. In a common law system, judges are obliged to make their rulings as consistent as reasonably possible with previous judicial decisions on the same subject. The Constitution accepted most of the English common law as the starting point for American law.

What are the three types of precedent?

A judgement may be an original precedent, binding precedent or persuasive precedent.

What does past precedent mean?

More specifically, you should only use the term “past precedents” if you are referring to more than one “previously decided cases that guide the decision of a future case.” Therefore, “past precedent” (referring to a single guiding case) is more common that “past precedents” (multiple guiding cases).

How do you identify precedents?

Two facts are crucial to determining whether a precedent is binding:

1. The position in the court hierarchy of the court which decided the precedent, relative to the position in the court trying the current case.
2. Whether the facts of the current case come within the scope of the principle of law in previous decisions.

What are some examples of precedent?

The definition of precedent is a decision that is the basis or reason for future decisions. An example of precedent is the legal decision in Brown v. Board of Education guiding future laws about desegregation. Something that came before, hence preceded the event currently in question, such as a previously decided case.

How is precedent used in courts?

Precedent means that judges are bound to follow interpretations of the law made by judges in higher courts, in cases with similar facts or involving similar legal principles. For example, the highest court in Australia, the High Court, while not bound to follow its own earlier decisions, does so in most cases.

Is precedent a good thing?

The use of precedent has been justified as providing predictability, stability, fairness, and efficiency in the law. Reliance upon precedent contributes predictability to the law because it provides notice of what a person’s rights and obligations are in particular circumstances.

What is an example of precedent?

What are the 4 types of precedents?

Types of Judicial Precedent

• Declaratory and Original Precedents. As John William Salmon explained, a declaratory precedent is one where there is only application of an already existing rule in a legal matter.
• Persuasive Precedents.
• Absolutely Authoritative Precedents.
• Conditionally Authoritative Precedents.