Role of Doctrine of Precedent in the English Legal System

However, I will discuss how common law also can create uncertainty and can be in conflict with the constitution and how the legal decisions of European Court of Justice are becoming binding on UK courts and the consequences of Human Rights Act 1998. In addition, I will also discuss how the doctrine of precedent to some extent create certainty at the same time produces uncertainty and have contradictory outcomes within the court system in UK. In the same time doctrine of precedent has some important advantages as well it also has considerable disadvantages and may be producing some chaos in the same time.

The practice of binding precedent within the court hierarchy and the discretion of judges to make law in the English Legal System

The doctrine of precedent in the context of the English legal system means the judges in the courts make the rules for a particular case before the courts given the facts of the case in a given area of law. If in the future, similar cases arises they use the same rules or reasons they use to make legal decisions. In the English legal system the precedents of the Higher courts are binding on lower courts and the court structure is hierarchical.

In the English courts system the House of Lords is the pinnacle of the court system. This is the highest court. The precedents of the House of Lords are binding on the lower courts such as the Court of Appeal and other lower courts. However, the precedents are not binding on the judges of the House of Lords or the precedents are not binding on it self.

In addition, due to European Community (EC) law and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is superior to the House of Lords. That is the House of Lords have to follow the European Court of Justice legal rules and reasons to decide cases and their precedents becomes non binding and the ECJ legal rules becomes binding on lower courts as well.

That is the European Community Law affects the status of House of Lords, which is to some degree different legal system compared to the English Legal system.

In addition, as a consequence of Human Rights Act 1998 the European Court of Human Rights (EctHR) is part of the jurisprudence of UK courts. That is the European Community Law and the Human Rights Act has to greater degree affected the precedents of the House of Lords, which are not in line with these laws and has to be refined or totally abandoned. This produces to some degree a reduced role of precedents in the English Legal system in the present times and also produces some destabilizing effects on existing legal practice. However, it has to be said these changes are evolutionary and did not produce chaos within the existing English Legal System and has been incorporated in to the English Legal system and the Legal system is functioning in UK albeit the reduced role of doctrine of precedents within the UK Court structure.