THE DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT: AN ANALYSIS FROM SOCIOLOGICAL SCHOOL OF JURISPRUDENCE & AMERICAN REALISM

Abstract

“One precedent creates another and they soon accumulate and constitute law. What yesterday was a fact, today is a doctrine.”JuniusFrom time immemorial it has been observed that with the development of people, law has evolved to maintain peace and order in the society. It is where law is considered to be superlative, the anticipation and debate about the supremacy of the law formulating body is never ending. Thinkers and scholars from time to time have been promoting different ideologies to figure out the body which formulates law and the premise on which the law is operational. The overlapping between the thoughts of advocates of sociological school and American Legal Realism has been prominent as both the ideological grounds support the view that law finds its source in the society itself. The former argues that the addressing of the issues in the society is the key to formulate of law while the latter supports the view that law is formulated within the courtrooms by giving primary importance to the ‘judge made law’. The focus of study in this research paper will be upon the understanding of precedents and the interface between sociological school of law and the American legal realism and the impact of precedents in modern legal societies. The research also aims to find out the role of the precedents in formulation of principles, doctrines and how does it contribute to law making.