Potter's Historical Introduction to English Law and Its Institutions

Legal research techniques: What the psychologist needs to know.

“…The common law accumulates on the basis of stare decisis (“let the decision stand”). Under the doctrine of stare decisis, when a court lays down a new principle of law, that court and lower courts in the same jurisdiction are bound to apply that precedent to future cases with similar facts (Kempin, 1982). Other courts may regard such decisions, depending on their number and reasoning, as persuasive, albeit not binding.…”