Case Law in the UK and Some Suggestions for the Application of Case Law in Vietnam

Abstract

The main source of law that forms the UK legal system is the case law. The UK is known as the "cradle" of precedent and the stare decisis principle. During the process of a trial, the UK judges must comply with the principle of stare decisis, also they are bounded by case law. The Article clarifies some aspects regarding case law; the understanding of the term "case law" in the UK; the explanation why we need to apply case law; the principle of applying stare decisis, changes in its content and the validity of case law in the UK from its commencement up to now. The paper also analyses the publication process of a case law in the UK, especially the process of forming law reports where the sentences are garthered and stored as precedents, thereby partly explains the long history of case law in UK, as well as introduces some suggestions for the process of proclaiming case law in Vietnam.