Stare Decisis: What It Is, Why It Is Important, And More Controversial Than You Might Think (Oh, And Spider-Man)
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Stare decisis might be the first Latin legal term you learn in law school. It was for me. But like all Latin terms, you quickly find an English equivalent: judicial precedent. The concept is both simple and complex, straightforward and convoluted. It will be the subject of this post; it's also the subject of the book pictured above, all 910 pages of it. I will attempt to make stare decisis--judicial precedent--a concept you can understand and maybe even apply. And Spider-Man will help. First, the simple. "Stare decisis" is Latin for "stand by things decided".* In the simplest of terms, it is the doctrine of precedent, which is when an issue is brought to the court that has already been decided and there is a precedent--a case decided by the court that answers the issue before it--to that effect, and that is how the case should be decided. If I am bringing a case about X and the court can point to a case that has already decided X (a precedent) I