Judicial opinions Quotes

“Decisions are to be followed as precedents.”

“The headnote is the fair epitome of the decision.”

“Where there is a decision precisely in point, it is better to follow it.”

“I will have it done, that it may remain a decision in perpetuam rei memoriam.”

“I must look at the decision with reference to all the circumstances which led to it.”

“Judicia posteriora sunt in lege fortiora: The later decisions are the stronger in law.”

“Judiciis posterioribus fides est adhibenda : Credit is to be taken to the later decisions.”

“Wikipedia: Judicial opinions”

“Lord Chief Justice Gibbs used to say that he could get authorities in the Year-Books for any side in any thing.”

“Judicial decisions in Courts of justice are ranked by Lord Hale as one of the grounds or constituents of the common law.”

“It is very dangerous for a Judge who does not agree with particular decisions, to deal in distinctions from those decisions.”

“Mankind naturally give evidence to the constituted Courts, and reputation is incurably damaged by their decisions, whether erroneous or not.”

“When we find a series of decisions running down from the time of Sir William Grant, we should be very cautious, and very slow to overrule them.”

“I think that the proper and safe course is to follow a decision of a Court of co-ordinate jurisdiction, unless some cogent reason is given to the contrary.”

“Judicial opinion has varied a great deal, and must vary a great deal, when you consider the ground upon which that judicial opinion or those judicial opinions have been founded.”

“A collection of records may be the result of professional knowledge, research, and skill, just as a collection of curiosities is the result of the skill and knowledge of the antiquarian or virtuoso.”

“To be sure the Court regularly adheres to regular judgments, if in the support of the merits and justice; but if against the merits and justice they always get rid of the mere formality of them; but they do it upon terms.”

“A considerable part of the law of England consists of judicial decisions, and in the very nature of things this must be so. Every decision upon a debated point adds a little to the law by making that point certain for the future.”

“A series of decisions based upon grounds of public policy, however eminent the Judges by whom they were delivered, cannot possess the same binding authority as decisions which deal with and formulate principles which are purely legal.”

“Year-books, books written of the law of England, and judgments in Parliament, are three of the authorities, and they are thesauri aperti. Judicial records and precedents are the fourth, and they are thesauri absconditi.”