Identify the key elements which allows precedents to work in English Essay

Identify the key elements which allows precedents to work in English court - Essay Example One interesting fact about the UK judicial system is that UK does not have one unified judicial system. There are three different systems can be witnessed one for England and Wales, one system for Scotland and one system for Northern Ireland (Hart & Hart, 2012). The judicial precedent of Northern Ireland is somewhat similar to that of England and Wales but the precedent in Scotland shows a quite different system altogether. As far as the English law is concerned depending upon the type of the case whether a criminal case or a civil case the hearing is conducted in different courts. The doctrine of judicial precedent is the base for the common law system. The principle of stare decisis is the base for the system of precedent. The inner meaning of this that the lower court has to take into account and follow the decisions of the higher courts where the facts of the cases are generally same. Thus this statement supports the need of understanding the hierarchy of the courts and their inter-relationship, which will help in understanding the development of the common law (Jacob, 2012). The hierarchy of the courts is as follows: When the precedent is set by the court at the same level, it is mandatory the court is bound by the previous decision. However, this particular rule is subject to exceptions (Baker, 2000). There are various considerations that can be applied depending upon the level of the court, which will determine if the court can depart from an earlier decision of a court at the same level. This court does not generally recognize the doctrine of precedent and has the freedom to depart from its own earlier decision. But the decisions from the European Court of Justice are bound to all courts in England & Wales. The Supreme Court replaced the House of Lords on 1st October 2009. The jurisdictions of the Supreme Court are same as that of the House of Lords and the Justices of the Supreme Court will take up the