Judicial law making or Judicial precedent is laws made by judges in the courts. When a case appears before them they must make a judgement and this forms the law. It must be followed in future similar cases.
Donoghue v Stevenson (1932)
Two friends visited a cafe and one drank a bottle of ginger beer that had the remains of a decomposing snail in it. The woman fell ill and sued the manufacturer. She won her case. The court decided a duty of care was owed by the manufacturer to the woman. Known as the "neighbour principle", this case founded the modern day law of negligence.
Daniel v White (1938)
The claimant bought a bottle of lemonade and when it was drunk he felt a burning reaction in his throat. This lemonade was found to have corrosive metal in it. The case of Donoghue v Stevenson was used when suing for compensation even though the facts were slightly different. It was sufficiently similar for the purposes of the precedent.
Judicial Precedent
Judges need to apply the law consistently and use the same principles in similar cases. The law must be common in all cases and hence it became known as the common law (that is judge made law). As there are several courts there is a hierarchy and and lower courts must abide by the decisions from the higher courts.
Judicial Precedent
There are several options for not following a past decision if deemed inappropriate, such as distinguishing or overruling. However this is only permitted by the very senior courts such as the Supreme Court. When there is no precedent the judge must make a decision and give an original precedent.
