COMMON LAW + DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT + TRIAL SYSTEMS

common law

law made by judges when deciding cases which give rise to the need for new precedents, adapts to current circumstances

law reports

set judgements in detail to use for future descisions, containing ratio decidendi and obiter dicta

doctrine of precedent

laws set by previous judges that are relevent to a case are binding to lower courts

precedent

judge made descision that stands as an example or guide for future descisions in cases of similar factual circumstances, set exclusively by higher courts

obiter dicta

alternate examples or additional discussion, not binding

ratio decidendi

binding, reason for the descision made by judges from other relevent cases

common law legal system

system where judges establish precedents when resolving disputes if no law exists, based on the idea of uniform law to maintain fairness and consistancy, follows doctrine of precedent

binding precedent

refers to how lower courts are bound by the descisions of higher courts if the ratio decidendi is relevant to the case, flowing downward from higher courts

persuasive precedent

refers to a descision which a court is not required to follow if set by a court of same or lower level or from another jurisdiction, flowing upwards from lower courts to higher courts

primacy of statute

statute law overrides common law if there is an inconsistency

stare decisis

the law should stand on what has been decided previously, meaning parties can cite earlier cases and reasons for judicial descisions

adversarial system

used in common law systems, the belief that justice is best achieved through a battle of words between adversaries

adversarial trial system

based on the assumption that truth is best discovered through contest, prompting the best evidence and arguements before an impartial adjudicator

inquisitorial trial system

used by the civil law system, based on the assumption that truth is best discovered through inquiry by an expert impartial adjudicator

Trial Responsibilities

judge (inquisitorial) or prosecution/plaintiff (adversarial)

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