Eval - precedent

• Advantage: certainty

  • People know what the kaw is
  • lawyers can advise their clients on outcome
  • Allows people to operate businesses knowing that financial arrangements are recognised by law
• Advantage: consistency

  • Seen as just and fair that similar cases are decided in similar ways
  • Law must be considered in application
• Advantage: flexibility

  • Room for law to change with society
  • Supreme court can overrule with practice statement past cases to reflect current trends
  • Like in BRB v herrington
• Advantage: time saving

  • Principle has already been established
  • Does not have to go through the system of law reporting
  • Laywers can save time and advise clients
• Disadvantage: rigidity

  • can be too inflexible
  • Bad decisions may be continued
  • few cases reach the supreme court
  • Change in the law only happens when people appeal to supreme court
• Disadvantage: illogical distinctions

  • Use of distinguishing to avoid past decisions leads to hair splitting
  • Law is very complex
  • Differences may be small and illogical
• Disadvantage: complexity

  • Half a million cases
  • Will not be easy to find similar case law
  • Judgements can be long with no clear distinction between comments
  • Makes it difficult to extract ratio decedendi
• Disadvantage: slowness of growth

  • Law is unclear needs reform
  • judges cant make decisions unless cases come to courts to be decided
  • 50 cases go to the supreme court every year
  • Can be a long wait for cases to bring about change