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What are the advantages and disadvantages of the doctrine of Stare Decisis for the develpment of law?

Posted by snowie , Thursday, February 4, 2010 9:53 PM

Definition:

Doctrine of Stare Decisis also known as doctrine of binding judicial precedent. It holds that judges are bound to follow the decision made by other judges before them in dealing with cases with similar facts. Bases on Wikipedia, it stated that stare decisis is the legal principle by which judges are obliged to obey the precedents established by prior decision. The words originare from Latin which means "Maintain what has been decided and do not alter that which has been established".

Stare decisis can divided into 2 categories which are Horizontal stare decisis and Vertical stare decisis. Horizontal stare decisis occurs when a judge is bound by decisions of earlier judges of similar or coordinate level. On the other hand, for the Vertical stare decisis occurs when a judge is bound by decisions of judges made at superior courts.


The advantages of the doctrine of Stare Decisis:
Based on the WikiAnswers,it stated that the advantages are that there is a stability in law so that people know what is allowable and what is not. this helps them know what not to do in taking future actions. It also tends to promote a uniformity of law throughout the country. Different states are free to disagree among themselves as to what laws govern in their states, but since most court made law comes from common law England, many legal principles have the same roots. Courts of different states do try to make rulings in line with other states even though they do not have to.

Furthermore,efficiency is one of the advantages based on the WikiAnswers. It stated that as there is already a basis on which the judgment will be passed, a basic framework so to say, the judicial process becomes so much faster. There is certain efficiency in the process as compared to what the procedure would be like in comparison with a system that did not follow the precedent based system. Plus these decisions are based on a precedent and so have a stronger basis.

Also, flexibility is the advantage of the doctrine of Stare Decisis. A judge is bound to follow the decision made by other judges or by the historical cases before they dealing in the cases with similar facts.

The disadvantages of the doctrine of Stare Decisis:
Based on WikiAnswers, it given the example in 1896 the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public facilities was constitutional as long as they were equal. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal facilities were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. In 1956, if the Supreme Court had blindly followed the principle of stare decisis, it would have ruled that segregation was permissible.

Besides, the perpetuation of bad decisions is the advantage if the doctrine of Stare Decisis. There is because there is the drawback that once a decision has been made, if there is no change and the same decision is followed again, a bad decision will be perpetuated.

Need for records become a disadvantage. This is because the precedents are to be followed by all other courts or in many cases, lengthy, detailed records have to be maintained. And to make easy the accessing of these cases and previous decisions, uniform indexing methods have to be created and followed diligently.