English Legal System: Doctrine of Stare Decisis

English legal system

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
English legal system....................................................................................................................3
Doctrine of Stare Decisis............................................................................................................4
Impact of the case on the doctrine of stare decisis......................................................................8
Contradiction of Doctrine of Stare Decisis.................................................................................8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
English law is a common legal system which consists of the civil and the criminal law
and each legislation has its own branch of courts and the procedures. The English legal system
have the parliamentary system of the governance where the Parliament is the supreme law
making body. It comprises of common and statutory law where the former consists of the law
which is made by the judiciary and the later laws are framed by the Parliament. The common law
has the same relevancy and validity which the statutory law has and the judiciary is entrusted
with the most essential role of interpreting the statutory laws and making new laws which are
called the common law1. This report shall cover the doctrine of stare decisis and the impact of
case law on it. Also it will deal with the aspects as to whether the doctrine contradict the
principles on which the English legal system relies.
MAIN BODY
English legal system
The English legal system does not have a written Constitution rather they have a partial
unwritten Constitution. It is a system of the regulations which decide the governance of the
country which is political in nature. It is not a codified document just like other countries have.
The Supreme Court of the country UK have recognised the constitutional principle through its
judicial decisions which includes rule of law, Parliamentary sovereignty, democracy and the
upholding of the International law. The Supreme court have also recognised its some principles
in the Acts of Parliament which have special constitutional status.
The English legal system comprises of the statutory and the common law where the
statutory law are the law which are made by the supreme law making authority which is
Parliament and the common law is the legislation which is made by the judges of the court of
England and Wales. These both laws have same validity and relevancy2. There are two main
sources of law which are discussed below-
1 Novak M, 'Ensuring Uniform Case Law In Slovenia: Jurisprudence Constante, Stare
Decisis, And A Third Approach' (2018) 27 Studia Iuridica Lublinensia
2 Krishnakumar A, 'Textualism And Statutory Stare Decisis' [2016] SSRN Electronic
Journal

Primary source of law are such which are made by the supreme law making authorities.
These involve the following- Legislation- These are legisations which are made by Parliament. It comprises of the
House of Commons and House of Lords which convert the bill as law after many debates
and discussions and finally the bill is received the royal assent from the State of Head
who is the Royal Monarch. These are called the statutory laws which are applied in whole
country.
 Case laws- These are judge made laws which are enacted by the judiciary. The judges are
entrusted with two main roles relating to law making of which one is to interpret the
existing laws and the other is the law made by the judges through judicial precedents.
These are called the common laws3.
The secondary source of law are the legislation which are derived not from original
source but are the delegated legislation. These include the following- Legal encyclopedia- These are the excellent point to begin the research which consists of
the cases, key points and the legislation. Parliamentary and non Parliamentary publications- These are the background of the
law which is made by the Parliament. It includes the discussion papers, debates on the
particular area of the law.
 Law journals- These are the combination of the case commentaries and the articles
which helps in understanding the legal issues4.
Doctrine of Stare Decisis
Precedents is a legal doctrine. It is an approach on which the decisions of the court which
was made previously are considered. It is a very important doctrine in the UK common law as
which was originated from the main and principle doctrine of the English law i.e. “Stare
Decisis”. If court is giving any ruling or deciding any case, they are bound by the previous order
which was already passed by the court. Even if the court is of different opinion in a particular
case, the principle of Stare Decisis and doctrine of precedent is binding on the judges. Though a
3 Re E, Stare Decisis ([Federal Judicial Center] 2018)
4 Emmert F, 'Stare Decisis - A Universally Misunderstood Idea?' [2019] SSRN Electronic
Journal