Doctrine of precedent: Difference between revisions

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By common myth, this is how the [[common law]] became the thing of many-faceted beauty we know today. No-one mentions the [[Elephants and turtles|elephant]] in the room, never mind the fact that there are ''four'' of them, and all perched atop of a [[stack of turtles]]. You see, there can’t ''always'' have been a developed body of [[case law]]: at some point in its life, every maxim; every [[golden thread|golden stream]] running through its [[sunlit uplands]]; every famously articulated principle of [[common law]] — the whole edifice was buried deep in a great marble block, and those qualified to opine on it could do no more than walk around it, with a chisel, scratching their chins.  
By common myth, this is how the [[common law]] became the thing of many-faceted beauty we know today. No-one mentions the [[Elephants and turtles|elephant]] in the room, never mind the fact that there are ''four'' of them, and all perched atop of a [[stack of turtles]]. You see, there can’t ''always'' have been a developed body of [[case law]]: at some point in its life, every maxim; every [[golden thread|golden stream]] running through its [[sunlit uplands]]; every famously articulated principle of [[common law]] — the whole edifice was buried deep in a great marble block, and those qualified to opine on it could do no more than walk around it, with a chisel, scratching their chins.  


''For what precedent did the judiciary cite as authority for the very first case?<ref>THEY MADE IT UP.</ref> (“You're very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady, “but it’s precedent all the way down.”''
For what precedent did the judiciary cite as authority for the very first case?<ref>THEY MADE IT UP.</ref> ''(“You're very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady, “but it’s precedent all the way down.”)''


Outside the great curial chambers of the [[Chancery Division]], the greatest exponent of the [[doctrine of precedent]] is the [[general counsel]].  
Outside the great curial chambers of the [[Chancery Division]], the greatest exponent of the [[doctrine of precedent]] is the [[general counsel]].