Precedent in English Law
1st Edition
Published on 13. June 1991
865 pages
978-0-19-102444-3 (ISBN)
Description
This fourth edition of Precedent in English Law presents a basic guide to the current doctrine of precedent in England, set in the wider context of the jurisprudential problems which any treatment of this topic involves. Such problems include the nature of _ratio_ _decidendi_ of a precedent and of its binding force, the significance of precedents alongside other sources of law, their role in legal reasoning, and the account which must be taken of them by any general theory of law. Considerable re-writing has been undertaken to update case-law and take account of the possible implications for the doctrine of precedent of the impact of European Community law, making it an indispensable work of reference for readers interested in the past history, present state, and future developments of English rules of precedent.
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Cross | Harris
Precedent in English Law
Book
06/1991
4th Edition
Clarendon Press
€120.10
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Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Preface
- Contents
- List of Abbrevations
- Bibliography
- Introduction
- I. The English Doctrine of Precedent
- 1. Preliminary statement
- 2. Illustrations
- 3. Comparison with France
- 4. Comparison with the European Court of Justice
- 5. Contrast with USA
- 6. Contrast with Scotland
- 7. Contrast with parts of the Commonwealth
- 8. History
- 9. Judicial regrets
- II. Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum
- 1. Ratio decidendi and the structure of judgments
- 2. The American realists
- 3. Wambaugh's test
- 4. Lord Halsbury in Quinn v. Leathern
- 5. Dr Goodhart's method of determining the ratio decidendi
- 6. Descriptions of the ratio decidendi
- 7. Obiter dicta
- 8. Cases with more than one ratio decidendi
- 9. The ratio decidendi of appellate courts
- III. Stare Decisis
- 1. Introductory
- 2. The House of Lords
- 3. The Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
- 4. The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
- 5. Divisional courts
- 6. The High Court
- 7. The Crown Court
- 8. Inferior courts
- IV. Exceptions to Stare Decisis
- 1. Introductory
- 2. The House of Lords
- 3. The Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
- 4. The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
- 5. Other courts
- 6. Decisions without argument
- 7. Obsolete decisions
- 8. Summary of exceptions to stare decisis
- V. Precedent as a Source of Law
- 1. The difference sources of law
- 2. Precedent and custom
- 3. The relation of precedent to legislation
- 4. Precedent and the interpretation of statutes
- 5. Precedent and European Community law
- VI. Precedent and Judicial Reasoning
- 1. Introductory
- 2. Deduction and induction in judicial reasoning
- 3. Reasoning by analogy
- 4. Conceptualism and reasoning by analogy
- 5. Cases of first impression
- 6. Conclusions
- VII. Precedent and Legal Theory
- 1. Precedent and the definition of law
- 2. Law and fact
- VIII. The Future
- Table of Cases
- Index
- Notes
