Stare Decisis, Doctrine of

Adherence to prece­dent was a foundation stone of the rule of law; it promoted the evenhanded, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles, fostered reliance on judicial decisions, and contributed to the actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process

Stare decisis was not an inexorable command, but any departure from the doctrine demanded "special justification" - something more than an argument that the precedent was wrongly decided.

Supreme Court (of the United States) did not lightly overturn precedents, and it sought always to honour the thoughtful guidance of those who had preceded the incumbent judges

At the same time, doctrine of stare decisis was not an inexorable command and the Supreme Court (of the United States) should not always remain bound to decisions whose ra­tionale no longer withstood careful analysis

Recog­nizing the need for balance in this area, the Supreme Court (of the United States) had over time, fashioned principles to guide its treatment of precedent

Said principles called on the Court to consider factors such as the quality of the precedent's reasoning, the workability of the rule it established, its consistency with other related decisions, developments since the decision was handed down, and reliance on the decision.

Development of jurisprudence is an ongoing process.

Doctrine of stare decisis, however,. is neither inflexible nor it comes into play if it violates the letter and spirit of statutory provision or falls within the clutches of obiter dicta

Principle of stare decisis must be applied after discovering the purpose of statutes and changes/amendments brought in those statutes; it cannot be made applicable where it is erroneous or patently unreasonable besides being flexible too.

[Obiter dicta].

[Res judicata]. Distinction between the doctrine of stare decisis and the doctrine of res judicata is that doctrine of res judicata applies only when the same parties or their privies are involved in the subsequent case as were involved in the earlier round of litigation, but the doctrine of stare decisis is not affected by the fact that different parties are involved in the case where the precedent was established. It was further pointed out that res judicata applies to decisions of both law and facts, whereas stare decisis is applicable only on the question of law.

Stare decisis, doctrine of Interpretation which has been consistently given by judicial authorities Interpretation if rot opposed to general principle of law-Should not be departed from in absence of any compelling reason to contrary.