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Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. [1] [2] [3] Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of stare decisis ("to stand by things decided"), where past judicial decisions serve as case law to guide future rulings, thus promoting consistency and predictability.
Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations.
According to Black's Law Dictionary, common law is "the body of law derived from judicial decisions, rather than from statutes or constitutions." [15] Legal systems that rely on common law as precedent are known as "common law jurisdictions."
Civil law is sometimes referred to as neo-Roman law, Romano-Germanic law or Continental law. The expression "civil law" is a translation of Latin jus civile, or "citizens' law", which was the late imperial term for its legal system, as opposed to the laws governing conquered peoples (jus gentium); hence, the Justinian Code's title Corpus Juris Civilis.
The Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents is a large collection of non-litigious [1] legal forms and precedents published by LexisNexis UK. The encyclopaedia is available in hard copy, on a searchable online database, and on CD-ROM.
It is possible to take the view that there is no need to define the word "law" (e.g. "let's forget about generalities and get down to cases"). [34] One definition is that law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behaviour. [1]
Legal opinion is a key point in law. In law, a legal opinion is in certain jurisdictions a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling.
Establishing a "test" (that is, a measurable standard that can be applied by courts in future decisions), such as the Oakes test (in Canadian law) or the Bolam test (in English law). Sometimes, with regard to a particular provision of a written constitution, only one court decision has been made.