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The Principle of Stare Decisis
The Principle of Stare Decisis
(745)
and people in general can venture with confidence to buy and trust,
and to deal with each other. If judicial decisions were to be lightly
disregarded, we should disturb and unsettle the great landmarks of
property. When a rule has been once deliberately adopted and
declared, it ought not to be disturbed, unless by a court of appeal
or review, and never by the same court, except for very cogent
reasons, and upon a clear manifestation of error; and if the practice were otherwise, it would be leaving us in a state of perplexing
uncertainty as to the law :" 1 Kent's Comm. 475. And see, as
enunciating the same views, Butler v. Duncomb, 1 P. Wins. 452;
Goodtitle v. Otway, 7 T. R. 419; Selby v. Bardons, 3 B. & Ad.
17; Anderson v. Jackson, 16 Johns. 402 ; Bellows v. Parsons,18
N. H. 256; Bates v. Relyea, 23 Wend. 340; Jansen v. Achison,
16 Kans. 358 ; Gray v. Gray, 34 Ga. 499 ; Lindsay v. Lindsay,
47 Ind. 286; Day v. Munson, 14 Ohio St. 488; Jones on Bailments 60. So, Judge BLACK referred to the principle of stare
decisis as, "that great principle which is the sheet-anchor of our
jurisprudence :" Bank of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth, 19
Penn. St. 151. .AndJudge COOLEY observes: " Even if the same
or any other court, in a subsequent case, should be in doubt concerning the correctness of the decision which has been made, there
are consequences of a very grave character to be contemplated and
weighed before the experiment of disregarding it should be ventured
upon. That state of things, when judicial decisions conflict, so that
a citizen is always at a loss in regard to his rights and his duties,
is a very serious evil; and the alternative of accepting adjudged
cases as precedents in future controversies resting upon analogous
facts, and brought within the same reasons, is obviously preferable :"
Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, 50. The principle of stare decisis, therefore, though presenting certain analogies to the rule which
establishes the conclusiveness of an estoppel by judgment, both
rests upon a broader foundation and is more comprehensive in its
application. The latter doctrine springs from the two maxims, that
"no one should be twice harassed concerning the same dispute,"
and that "the interest of the state demands there should be an end
of litigation," and is necessarily limited, in its effect, to the parties
to the particular controversy and, their privies. But the former is
predicated upon the necessity of finally settling the rules of the
common: law and the interpretation of statutory enactments in the
interest, and for the protection and guidance, of the entire commu-