Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Precedent in England and Wales: Ratio/Obiter, Supreme Court Practice Statement, Appellate and Tribunal Rules, Privy Council, HRA and Retained EU Law

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Practice notes

Precedent at common law

Observance of precedent is a crucial feature of common law adjudication. When a precedent is binding, later courts should, in the ordinary course, follow and respect it. The binding effect operates in two ways:

Vertical stare decisis: Decisions of higher courts must be honoured by courts below. In Cassell & Co Ltd v Broome, the Lord Chancellor underlined that, within this country’s court hierarchy, each lower tier must loyally accept the rulings of the higher tiers. In Willers v Joyce (No 2), Lord Neuberger explained that, in a common law system where judges make the law in some areas and develop it in virtually all, the doctrine of precedent (stare decisis) is fundamental; determinations of law by more senior courts have to be accepted by more junior courts, otherwise the law becomes anarchic and forfeits coherence, clarity and predictability.
Horizontal stare decisis: Courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction should, as a general rule, follow one another’s decisions. This means, for

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Dr Lewis Graham

The University of Manchester

Dr Lewis Graham is a Lecturer in Human Rights Law at the University of Manchester. Prior to that he was a Fellow in Law at Christ's College, Cambridge and Wadham College, Oxford. His general research interests include judicial decision-making, the work of apex courts, public law and human rights (especially the Human Rights Act and European Convention on Human Rights). He is particularly interested in empirical legal work. Lewis completed his doctorate at the University of Cambridge and holds Law degrees from the Universities of Oxford and Bristol. His monograph, Judicial Individuality on the UK Supreme Court, was published in 2025 by Hart. He has recently published articles in journals such as the Modern Law Review, Public Law, Human Rights Law Review and International and Comparative Law Quarterly. ...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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