Judicial processes

• Judicial precedent

  • Laws made by judges in courts. When a case appears before them, they must make a judgement and this forms the law. It must be followed in similar cases in the future.
  • This called ‘common law’, that is judge made law.
  • There is a court hierarchy system and lower courts must abide by the decisions and rules made by higher courts.
• Statutory interpretation

  This is where judges in senior courts are called upon to interpret words and phrases within a law. They have the ability to interpret the meaning of the law and make a verdict on the case.
• Overruling past decisions

  There are several options for not following a past decision if it is deemed inappropriate, such as distinguishing or overruling. This is only permitted by the very senior courts.
• Advantage of judicial precedent - quick and doesn't have to go through Parliament.

  Disadvantage of judicial precedent - may be biased towards a particular case