Precedent

A court decision in an earlier case with facts and legal issues similar to a dispute currently before a court. Judges will generally "follow precedent" - meaning that they use the principles established in earlier cases to decide new cases that have similar facts and raise similar legal issues. A judge will disregard precedent if a party can show that the earlier case was wrongly decided, or that it differed in some significant way from the current case.

Additional Sources

Answers.com

A judicial decision that may be used as a standard in subsequent similar cases: a landmark decision that set a legal precedent.

Duhaime Legal Dictionary

1. A case which establishes a novel legal principles to a certain set of facts, coming to a certain conclusion, and which is thereafter authoritative, to be followed from that point on, when similar or identical facts are before a court.

Precedents form the basis of the theory of stare decisis which prevent "reinventing the wheel" and allows citizens to have a reasonable expectation of the legal solutions which apply in a given situation.

When one talks of a Court establishing a precedent, it refers to the first such conclusion of a Court to such a set of facts.

2. In procedural matters, the word is also used from time to time to refer to an official court form, or a sample of a Court or other legal form or contract. For example, when one attorney asks another for a precedent on a certain matter, say a personal injury or a divorce action, they are not necessarily or likely refering in that context to a significant legal decision of judgment on divorce. What they are talking about is a standard or sample form or a bolierplate for initiating a personal injury or divorce action, which can then be used to fashion a similar document, with changes on points of detail.

Private law book publishers offer binders full of proposed precedents or "boilerplates" on virtually every type of contract or court document available.

Encyclopedia Britannica

In law, a judgment or decision of a court that is cited in a subsequent dispute as an example or analogy to justify deciding a similar case or point of law in the same manner. Common law and equity, as found in English and American legal systems, rely strongly on the body of established precedents, although in the original development of equity the court theoretically had freedom from precedent. At the end of the 19th century, the principle of stare decisis (Latin: “let the decision stand”) became rigidly accepted in England. In the United States the principle of precedent is strong, though higher courts—particularly the Supreme Court of the United States—may review and overturn earlier precedents.

Law.com Dictionary

1) n. a prior reported opinion of an appeals court which establishes the legal rule (authority) in the future on the same legal question decided in the prior judgment. Thus, "the rule in Fishbeck v. Gladfelter is precedent for the issue before the court in this case." The doctrine that a lower court must follow a precedent is called stare decisis 2) adj. before, as in the term "condition precedent," which is a situation which must exist before a party to a contract has to perform.

Lawyers.com

A judicial decision that should be followed by a judge when deciding a later similar case.

Lect Law Library

Legal principle, created by a court decision, which provides an example or authority for judges deciding similar issues later. Generally, decisions of higher courts (within a particular system of courts) are mandatory precedent on lower courts within that system--that is, the principle announced by a higher court must be followed in later cases. For example, the California Supreme Court decision that unmarried people who live together may enter into cohabitation agreements (Marvin v. Marvin), is binding on all appellate courts and trial courts in California (which are lower courts in relation to the California Supreme Court). Similarly, decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court (the highest court in the country) are generally binding on all other courts in the U.S.

Decisions of lower courts are not binding on higher courts, although from time to time a higher court will adopt the reasoning and conclusion of a lower court. Decisions by courts of the same level (usually appellate courts) are considered persuasive authority. That is, they should always be carefully considered by the later court but need not be followed.

Legal-Dictionary.org

A court decision that controls the outcome of a later action.

The Free (Legal) Dictionary

A court decision that is cited as an example or analogy to resolve similar questions of law in later cases.

The Anglo-American common-law tradition is built on the doctrine of Stare Decisis ("stand by decided matters"), which directs a court to look to past decisions for guidance on how to decide a case before it. This means that the legal rules applied to a prior case with facts similar to those of the case now before a court should be applied to resolve the legal dispute.

The use of precedent has been justified as providing predictability, stability, fairness, and efficiency in the law. Reliance upon precedent contributes predictability to the law because it provides notice of what a person's rights and obligations are in particular circumstances. A person contemplating an action has the ability to know beforehand the legal outcome. It also means that lawyers can give legal advice to clients based on settled rules of law.

Wikipedia

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a legal case establishing a principle or rule that a court or other judicial body utilizes when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts.