A Theory of Precedent: From Analytical Positivism to a Post-Analytical Philosophy of Law

(Hardback)

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Analytical jurisprudence has been mostly silent on the role of precedent in legal adjudication. What is the content of a judge's precedent ideology, or the rule of precedent-recognition, by means of which the ratio of a case is to be distinguished from mere dicta In this study, the author identifies six types of judicial precedent-ideology, among them judicial legislation, systemic construction of the underlying reasons of law in the Dworkinian sense, and a radical re-evaluation of the merits of a prior case in later adjudication, as envisioned by the American Realists.

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illuminating and interesting...well written [and] stimulating -- William Lucy * Cambridge Law Journal *

Author Bio

Raimo Siltala is Professor of Law at the University of Helsinki.