What is the legal significance of precedents?

Precedents hold significant legal importance as they contribute to the consistency and stability of the legal system. When courts make decisions, those rulings often set precedents that guide future cases with similar circumstances. This reliance on established precedents ensures that similar cases are treated alike, promoting fairness in legal proceedings. By adhering to these earlier decisions, judges can provide predictability for individuals and entities navigating their legal rights and obligations, thereby reinforcing the rule of law.

While precedents may introduce new legal standards in specific instances, their primary function is to create a framework for how laws are interpreted over time. They are not confined to criminal law alone; rather, they apply across various areas of the legal system, including civil law. Moreover, the notion that a judge can simply disregard a precedent without a valid justification undermines the reliability of the legal system. Judges may choose to distinguish a case based on its unique facts or to overturn a precedent if it is deemed outdated or unjust, but this is done within a structured legal framework rather than arbitrarily.