Stare Decisis - Why We can never take this column back.

Since we (the very nonjudicial we) had nothing to do this last week, and since we had heard the fate of the free world was at stake, we turned off Comedy Central, put away our rubber chickens, and soldered the dial to CSPAN. Room 216 wasn't really as much fun as our usual fare, but we still got a few good laughs.

Most bemusing was watching a bunch of laymen discuss stare decisis. Here are a few definitions of stare decisis, in no particular order. We might have followed the debate better if we knew which definition was applicable.

Stare Decisis:

• A phrase from Latin for "to stand by things decided."
• A phrase Appellees gleefully use as an adjective to describe authority related to their case.
• [Stare decisis] is a maxim among ... lawyers, that whatever has been done before may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.— Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels.
• Stare decisis is the way judges seek the safety of the herd. (ouch) Jon Roland
• What is the doctrine of precedent or of stare decisis? Professor Gall described it in the following terms: The operation of the doctrine of stare decisis is best explained by reference to the English translation of the Latin phrase. "Stare decisis" literally translates as "to stand by decided matters". The phrase "stare decisis" is itself an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "stare decisis et non quieta movere" which translates as "to stand by decisions and not to disturb settled matters". Basically, under the doctrine of stare decisis, the decision of a higher court within the same provincial jurisdiction acts as binding authority on a lower court within that same jurisdiction. The decision of a court of another jurisdiction only acts as persuasive authority. The degree of persuasiveness is dependent upon various factors, including, first, the nature of the other jurisdiction. Second, the degree of persuasiveness is dependent upon the level of court which decided the precedent case in the other jurisdiction. Other factors include the date of the precedent case, on the assumption that the more recent the case, the more reliable it will be as authority for a given proposition, although this is not necessarily so. And on some occasions, the judge's reputation may affect the degree of persuasiveness of the authority. - READ MORE

BONUS - While out researching stari whats it, we stumbled into - The Whiskey Bar