Doctrine of precedent: Difference between revisions

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.