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On The Doctrine Of Precedent In The United Kingdom

Posted on:2007-05-25Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y C WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2166360212478142Subject:Procedural Law
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
From the 12th century, during the long history, the United Kingdom forms case law and the doctrine of precedent. Case law is one of the important characters that make the Anglo-American legal system different from civil law system. The United Kingdom is the most important country in practicing case law. It has a long story of case law and forms its own rigorous case law system and abstruse theory. The doctrine of precedent is the core of the modern case law system. It is important to the speciality of English nomocracy and it is also the motivity to keep and develop English nomocracy. The doctrine of precedent is the essence and foundation of the Anglo- American legal system.It means that a previous decision of the court which was compiled and published in law reports, is binding on the similar case before the corresponding court. It is because of the doctrine of precedent that case law, an old modality, keeps a school of its own in 21st century and makes itself a cosmopolitan legal system which is in no shape inferior to the Roman law system. A necessary research on the doctrine of precedent will help us to recognize the important character and historical tradition of the United Kingdom's law system, to understand the energy and stalwart spirit of case law and will provide us the necessary fundamental knowledge to study and forecast the development trend of the United Kingdom's law system.The whole article consists of three parts: Preface, Main Part, and Ending. The main part is divided into five chapters.Chapter 1 summarizes the doctrine of precedent. We review the historic backgrounds and development of the doctrine of precedent, analyze English tradition of case law, emphasize the effect of the dualistic mechanism of English common law and equity law on enhancing the social applicability, and explain why English law is independent of Roman law.Chapter 2 analyses the cause of formation, the main content, binding effect and distinguishing technique of the precedent principle. Chapter 2 mostly expounds the horizontal stare decisis, vertical stare decisis, and persuasive effect, providing theoretical foundation to extend the hierarchy of the courts and the agility of the precedent in the following parts.Chapter 3 exercises comparative analysis and demonstration analysis with aseries of precedents to probe into the hierarchy of the courts, emphasizing the precedent mechanism in the Court of Lords and the Court of Appeal. In the same time, we analyze the elusion of the precedent mechanism.Chapter 4 analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of adopting the doctrine of precedent. We expound the superiority of the doctrine of precedent such as restricting power spirit, limiting the free decision-making power and the negative influence of violating the constitution.Chapter 5 enumerates law reports which serve as the carrier of case precedent, the evolution of law reports report and the citation of the precedents.
Keywords/Search Tags:Case law, Common law legal system, Doctrine of precedent
PDF Full Text Request
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