Chapter 4

Any court that hears appeals from a lower court. In England and Wales, the highest appellate court currently is the House of Lords. In 2009, the Supreme Court will replace the House of Lords as the highest appellate court.

A term describing a judge or group of judges sitting in court.

A precedent established by judges in the higher appeal courts that must be followed by the lower courts unless there is a good reason for departing from it; for example, that it can be distinguished. The binding element of the judicial decision is referred to as the ratio decidendi. The doctrine of binding precedent is also known as stare decisis.

Judges are bound by the doctrine of judicial precedent. However, if the facts in the case before the judge differ from the precedent that he or she is required to follow, the judge may distinguish it, that is, declare it different from the precedent. The judge may then make his or her own decision on the case.

The legal institution of the Council of Europe. Its jurisdiction is the European Convention on Human Rights. Its judges are drawn from Member States, although they sit as individuals, rather than as representatives of the State The ECtHR sits at Strasbourg.

Statements made by judges in the course of making a decision that do not form part of the ratio decidendi of the case. They are statements made as an aside, almost in passing. Although not binding, they are of persuasive authority.

This relates to the doctrine of precedent. When a judge exercises the power to depart from a previous decision and expressly overturns that previous decision, he or she is said to have ‘overruled’ the decision, meaning that it is no longer good law.

Decisions which a lower court may not need to apply under the doctrine of precedent. Courts are bound to follow the decisions of higher courts, and sometimes of courts of equal standing. However, decisions of the Privy Council, for example, although authoritative, are not binding. This means that the lower court should consider the decision, but is not necessarily bound to follow it.

The doctrine that provides that lower courts are bound by the decisions of higher courts. This means that if the lower court has a case before it which is similar to a previous decision of a higher court, it must follow the higher court’s decision unless it has good reasons for departing from it. Courts are sometimes also bound by decisions of courts at the same level.
Precedent can also be used to describe the ratio decidendi, or legal principle, of a case.

The key to the doctrine of judicial precedent; the legal reasoning for the decision in a case and the element of a judicial decision which forms the binding precedent for future cases.

The fundamental principle of the doctrine of precedent, literally meaning ‘let the decision stand’. According to this doctrine, lower courts are required to follow the decisions of higher courts unless they have a very good reason for departing from them. Sometimes courts are also bound by decisions of other courts at the same level.

Reforms to the civil justice system proposed by the Rt Hon Lord Woolf in 1996. His aim was to ensure that the civil justice system continued to be fair, but also to make it quicker, more efficient and less expensive.