Stare Decisis
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States · John Bouvier · 1839
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States
To abide or adhere to decided cases. It isa general maxim that when a point has been settled by decision, it forms a precedent which is not afterwards to be departed from. The doctrine of stare decisis is not always to be relied upon, for the courts find it necessary to overrule cases which have been hastily decided, or conof such overruled cases may be found in the American and English books of reports. Mr. Greenleaf has made a collection of such cases, to which the reader is referred.
Vide 1 Kent, Com. 477; Livingst. Syst. of Pen. Law, 104, 5.