stare decisis en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈstɛə̯ɹ.i dɪˈsaɪ̯.sɪs/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- stâr′ē dĭ-sī′sĭs (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin stāre dēcīsīs, from stāre (“to stand; to stay, to remain”) + dēcīsīs, ablative plural of dēcīsus, from dēcidere (“to sever, to decide”). Literally, “to stand by decided matters”.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The principle of following judicial precedent.
The doctrine of stare decisis is the second stage of the analysis, because if a decision is wrong, then you have to decide whether you should keep it, for many of the reasons you say — stability, reliance interests, etc.
2025 October 16, Ross Douthat, quoting Amy Coney Barrett, “Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Oct 2025:Understanding why Dobbs [v. Jackson Women's Health Organization] is so dangerous, both to American society and to the American republic, starts with a principle known as stare decisis, which has guided the Court since at least the mid-19th century.
2022 July 24, David Litt, “A Court Without Precedent”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2022:Thomas’s opinion also overturns previous supreme court rulings, in an abrogation of the court’s own adherence to the principle of stare decisis — that is, being faithful to precedent.
2022 May 23, Ed Pilkington, “Supreme court guts lifeline for prisoners who claim wrongful convictions”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Aug 2024:Similarly, Walter F. Murphy, a student of judicial politics, noted that stare decisis provides the “harried judges who face difficult choices with a welcome decision-making crutch.”
2006, Saul Brenner, Harold J. Spaeth, Stare Indecisis: The Alteration of Precedent on the Supreme Court, 1946–1992, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 3:
Relateds
Translations (3)
cmn 遵循先例 (principle of following judicial precedent) · pl stare decisis (principle of following judicial precedent) · fi ennakkotapausoppi (principle of following judicial precedent)