Liezel O.

Carandang
BSBA-Legal Management
4th Year
Discuss the following principles in case law:

1. Doctrine of precedent.
- A judicial decision that creates a rule that other courts must follow when deciding
later cases that are similar or identical to the case that created the rule.
- “Adherence to precedents”, states that once a case has been decided one way, then
another case, involving exactly the same point at issue, should be decided in the same
manner.
- NOTE: Supreme Court is not bound by this doctrine because it can overturn
precedents.

Importance of Precedents

- The importance of precedent is summed up in the words of Lord Gardiner in London

Tramways Co. vs. London City Council where he said, '...[justices] regard the use of
precedent as an indispensable foundation upon which to decide what is the law and its
application to individual cases. It provides at least some degree of certainty upon
which individuals can rely in the conduct of their affairs, as well as a basis for an
orderly development of legal rules'.
2. Doctrine of Res judicata and stare decisis.

Res judicata

- a matter adjudged, judicially acted upon or decided, or settled by judgment. It

provides that a final judgment on the merits rendered by a court of competent
jurisdiction is conclusive as to the rights of the parties and their privies; and
constitutes an absolute bar to subsequent actions involving the same claim, demand or
cause of action
- Requisites of Res judicata:
(1) The former judgment must be final;
(2) The court that rendered it had jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties;
(3) It is a judgment on the merits (rendered after consideration of evidence and
stipulations);
Liezel O. Carandang
BSBA-Legal Management
4th Year
(4) There is — between the first and the second actions — an identity of parties,
subject matter and cause of action

Stare Decisis

- The principle that the decisions of a court are a binding authority on the court that
issued the decisions and on the lower courts for the disposition of factually similar
controversies. Stand on what has been decided

Kinds of Stare Decisis:

1. Vertical Stare Decisis -Duty of lower courts to apply the decisions of the higher
courts to cases involving the same facts. (Obligation)
2. Horizontal Stare Decisis -Higher courts must follow its own precedents (Policy)
-Constitutional Stare Decisis are judicial interpretations of the Constitution; while,
Statutory Stare Decisis are interpretations of statutes

Res Judicata and Stare Decisis, Effects -The former to the settlement of the immediate
controversy and the latter to the impact of the decision as precedent

3. Ratio decidendi and Obiter dictum.

- Anyone interested in the law should be aware of the concept of precedent. It is not
always possible to obtain the answer to a legal question solely in literature. Legal
precedents must be read to comprehend and to solve the problem. Every decision is
made up of two major components. Ration Decidendi and Obiter Dictum The logic
underlying the decision is known as Ratio Decidendi. It explains to everyone why
the court came to a particular judgment. What factors influenced the honorable court's
decision to issue the judgment in the way it did? The Obiter Dictum is a remark
made by a court while issuing a verdict. These declarations have no legal standing
and do not create any new legislation. However, these assertions may be useful in
determining the state of the case.
4. Reversal of judgment and overruling of decision.
- Overruling and reversing are two legal terms that are similar but not interchangeable.
Overruling is what a higher court does to a precedent that it expressly deems should
no longer be the dominant law, whether it is its own or a lower court's decision.
Liezel O. Carandang
BSBA-Legal Management
4th Year
Reversing occurs when an Appellant Court, while reviewing a case, discovers errors
in an individual case that are serious enough to warrant declaring the trial court's
judgment null and void, expunging the trial court's ruling on which the result was
based, or returning the case to the trial court for retrial if necessary.
- The distinction between OVERRULING and REVERSING, in terms of
understanding the meaning of these two legal terminologies, is that REVERSING is a
considerably narrower idea than OVERRULING. REVERSING is the process of a
Superior Court of record overturning a lower court's judgment or ruling, whereas
OVERRULING is the process of a Superior Court of record overturning a lower
court's judicial precedent or precedent made by a lower court.
5. Binding authority and persuasive authority.

Authority: Items that may bind a court or influence a court. Jurisdiction and court level
determine whether legal authority is mandatory or persuasive.

 Mandatory (Binding): Authority that a court must follow, i.e., that is binding on a court.
 Persuasive: Authority that a court may, but is not bound to, follow. For example,
decisions from one jurisdiction may be persuasive authority in the courts of another
jurisdiction.