The Doctrine of Judicial Precedent

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Table of Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2

The Hierarchy of Courts in Mauritius .................................................................................... 3

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) ........................................................ 3

The Supreme Court ........................................................................................................... 4

The District Court ............................................................................................................. 5

The Intermediate Court...................................................................................................... 5

Ratio Decidendi & Obiter Dictum ......................................................................................... 6

Types of Precedent ................................................................................................................ 7

(1) Decisions of courts lower in the hierarchy........................................................................ 9

(2) Decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ................................................ 9

(3) Dissenting judgments ....................................................................................................... 9

Avoiding Precedent ............................................................................................................... 9

Reversing .......................................................................................................................... 9

Distinguishing ................................................................................................................. 10

Overruling ....................................................................................................................... 11

Advantages & Disadvantages of the Doctrine of Judicial Precedent .................................... 13

Application of the different aspects of the assignment ......................................................... 15

Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................. 18

Division of Task .................................................................................................................. 18

References: ......................................................................................................................... 19

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Introduction

It is in the very nature of humanity that every act that has once made its appearance and has

been recorded in the history of mankind stays with us as a potentiality long after its actuality

has become a thing of the past. The aforementioned statement sums up the concept of judicial

precedence. Indeed, a judicial precedent is a ruling made by a court of law which, by virtue of

the legal principle applied to the judgment, will serve as a reference point for deciding on

future cases with similar sets of facts. This legal doctrine is present in common law legal

systems such as those of the Commonwealth of Nations.

A judge must follow any decision made by a higher court in a case with similar material facts

Some courts (the higher ones) also follow their own previous decisions. Thus they are said to

bind themselves. In order to decide if a judgment is binding, the material facts of the case

need to be looked at. Material facts are the ones which will affect the...