United Kingdom, United Courts? Hierarchical Interactions and Attention to Precedent in the British Judiciary

Abstract

Most empirical examinations of hierarchical interactions among the courts are limited to a single judiciary, the American courts. A significant puzzle that remains is the extent to which lower courts in comparative environments follow the legal pronouncements of their court of last resort. We confront this shortcoming by examining lower court adherence to the precedents of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. As the Law Lords in the United Kingdom primarily oversee a single lower court, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, this design provides a unique opportunity to assess the factors that influence hierarchical responses to precedent. We offer a framework in which legal, rather than strategic, factors influence the propensity with which lower court judges rely on the precedents of the House of Lords. Using an original data set of over 13,000 lower court responses to the precedents of the House of Lords between 1970 and 2002, our findings challenge the efficacy of principal–agent accounts and shed new light on how horizontal stare decisis influences decision-making behavior within the United Kingdom.