Are Rules Governing the Use of Precedent Necessary?

This paper addresses the issue of the necessary or contingent nature of the rules governing the use of precedent. The author argues that the rules governing the use of precedent in lato sensu (the rules that define the legal operation of judicial precedent) is a necessary rule of legal systems. Howe...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Author: Pulido Ortiz, Fabio Enrique
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2022
Country:México
Institution:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repository:Problema. Anuario de Filosofía y Teoría del Derecho
Language:Spanish
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/17582
Online Access:https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/filosofia-derecho/article/view/17582
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Judicial Precedent
Rules Governing the Use of Precedent
Constitutive Rules
Power-conferring Rules
Mandatory Rules
Precedente judicial
regla de precedente
normas constitutivas
normas de competencia
normas prescriptivas
Description
Summary:This paper addresses the issue of the necessary or contingent nature of the rules governing the use of precedent. The author argues that the rules governing the use of precedent in lato sensu (the rules that define the legal operation of judicial precedent) is a necessary rule of legal systems. However, legal systems have three different (exclusive and exhaustive) kinds of rules governing the use of precedent: a) binding rules governing the use of precedent, b) rules admitting the use of precedent and c) rules rejecting the use of precedent. The main conclusion is that whether for conceptual reasons of conferring power or for the centrality of the rule of law in current legal systems, when a legal system does not define the legal operation of judicial precedents, it can be said say there are (implicit) rules rejecting the use of precedent.