The English Legal System is based on the age-old system of precedent, which can be strict and inflexible.

Essay by InsigmaUniversity, Bachelor'sB, December 2003

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English Legal System

The English Legal System has slowly been evolving over time and can be traced back as far as 1066. Certain characteristics help to distinguish this law system from any other, such as the law of precedent. Throughout time, a specific court structure has matured and a form of hierarchy is held between the different courts. Through the doctrine of binding precedent, the decisions of the superior courts are binding on the courts, which are below it.

In order to complete this essay successfully, the relevant advantages and disadvantages of the law of precedent need to be distinguished to find out whether this law is strict and inflexible as the title suggests. As with any law or theory, individual persons will have their own ideas and attitudes towards it.

The doctrine of precedent states that a decision made by a court in one case is binding in other courts, in later cases involving similar facts.

Therefore, past decisions must be followed in subsequent cases, irrespective of whether the courts in those subsequent cases agree with them or not. Precedent is the basis of the common law, but even in non-legal groups, the idea of precedent is strong, and many social groups apply informal rules based on the way things have always been done. A well-known example of precedent is the case between Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) AC 562. Where judges do not follow precedent, uncertainty within the law system is created, this can be seen in the case of Lewis v Averay (1971) 3 A11 ER 907, CA.

The system of precedent relies upon two important components; these include law reporting and a hierarchical court structure. Law reporting helps to keep an accurate and comprehensive collection of the main decisions of the superior courts, which can be accessed,