Also known as: precedent · precedents
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial decision that lower courts in the same jurisdiction must follow when deciding later cases presenting similar facts or legal issues. The decision supplies the governing rule for future disputes of the same type and carries binding force within the court system that produced it.
Logan Lane's will left his estate to his niece if she survived him and otherwise to a residuary trust. After Logan died the niece predeceased him. The probate court applied an earlier appellate decision construing the uniform probate code and held that the residuary clause operated as an alternative devise because the will expressly directed the nonresiduary gift into the residue upon the niece's failure to survive.
Lily Lopez sued an insurer in a coverage dispute. The trial judge owned a large block of the insurer's stock and had filed a similar suit of his own. An appellate court followed controlling precedent on judicial disqualification and vacated the judgment because the judge's personal financial stake created an intolerable risk of bias.
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Luis Lopez, a city official, sued a newspaper for publishing an editorial that criticized his performance. The trial court followed the established actual-malice standard from prior precedent and granted summary judgment for the newspaper because Lopez could not show the paper published the statements with knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.
Lila Lin challenged an environmental regulation issued by a federal agency after extensive public comment. The court of appeals followed precedent limiting judicial review of agency procedures and upheld the rule because the agency had followed the required notice-and-comment process without adding new procedures beyond those mandated by statute.
Luna Lang owned waterfront property targeted for a city redevelopment plan. The trial court followed precedent interpreting the public-use requirement and upheld the taking because the plan served a legitimate economic-development purpose even though the land would ultimately be transferred to private developers.
Lucy Liu held a remainder interest in a trust whose trustee published notice of a judicial settlement proceeding in a local newspaper. The court followed precedent on due-process notice requirements and set aside the judgment because publication alone failed to reach known beneficiaries whose addresses were reasonably ascertainable.
A decision becomes binding precedent when it is issued by a higher court within the same jurisdiction and addresses the same legal issue presented in a later case. Lower courts must apply the rule announced in that decision to materially similar facts.
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The court compares the material facts and legal question in the pending case with those decided in the earlier opinion. If the facts are sufficiently analogous and the legal issue is the same, the earlier holding supplies the governing rule.
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A lower court must follow controlling precedent from a higher court even if it believes the precedent is incorrect. Only the higher court that created the precedent, or a court of equal rank in some circumstances, may overrule it.
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…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…