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The system of judicial precedent permits both flexibility and flexibility in the law.
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Charlotte Harvey The system of judicial precedent permits both flexibility and flexibility in the law. When judges make a decision in court, they must, to a certain extent, follow previous decisions. This allows stability in the law; people know where they stand. Originally it was viewed that the House of Lords could over rule its own decisions i.e. the law was flexible according to individual cases. But gradually over the 19th century this approach disappeared, and after the London Street Tramways v London County Council 1898, the HOL regarded themselves as being completely bound by their own decisions. It was held that certainty in the law was more important than the possibility of individual hardship caused through having to follow a past decision. In the judgement of the Tramways case the Earl of Halsbury LC questioned the possibility of raising a case time and time again and bringing separate judgements, and that 'there...
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