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Overrule

Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

Black's Law Dictionary

To supersede; annul; reject by subsequent action or decision. A judicial decision is said to be overruled when a later decision, rendered by the same court or by a superior court in the same system, expresses a judgment upon the same question oi law directly opposite to that which was be fore given, thereby depriving the earlier opinion of all authority as a precedent. The term is not properly applied to conflicting decisions on the same point by co-ordinate or independent tribunals. In another sense, "overrule" is spoken of the action of a court in refusing to sustain, or recognize as sufficient, an obj'ection made in the course of a trial, as to the introduction of particular evidence, etc.