Also known as: precedents · precedential · stare decisis
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A decided case that furnishes a basis for determining later cases involving similar facts or issues.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Phuong Pham's will left her estate to her nephew if he survived her. After her death the nephew predeceased her by one day. The probate court examined an earlier decision interpreting similar survival language and treated that decision as controlling authority on whether the gift lapsed.
Perry Pratt sued a company in a case assigned to a judge who held identical claims against the same defendant. The reviewing court vacated the judgment because the judge's personal financial stake created an intolerable risk of bias under due process standards.
Peter Park challenged New York City's refusal to allow construction atop Grand Central Terminal. The court applied an earlier takings decision to weigh the economic impact against the owner's reasonable investment-backed expectations.
Paula Pierce sought to enjoin a state ban on nearly all abortions. The court held that earlier decisions recognizing a federal right to abortion no longer controlled after being expressly overruled.
Pablo Perez moved to exclude statements made during custodial interrogation. The court followed an earlier decision requiring warnings about the right to counsel and the right to remain silent before any questioning.
Pamela Phillips objected to a trust accounting because she received only publication notice. The court applied an earlier decision requiring notice reasonably calculated to apprise interested parties of the proceeding.
A prior decision binds later courts when the facts are identical or sufficiently similar that the policies and principles underlying the earlier decision apply to the current case.
A court distinguishes precedent by showing that the case at hand differs in important ways from the prior case so that the policies and principles underlying the earlier decision do not apply.
When a court overrules earlier precedent the prior decision ceases to be good law and no longer controls future cases raising the same issue.
…considered manslaughter (though not murder), "modern law" took a less severe view.[^maj-25] A recent review of the common-law precedents argues, however, that those precedents contradict Coke and that even post-quickening abortion was never established as a common-law crime.[^maj-26] This is of some importance because while…