spotlight of public scrutiny. Questions have been raised over the

Court's adherence to the Doctrine of Precedent and the Separation of

Powers doctrine. This paper will examine the theoretical

and practical issues placed upon the High Court from the Precedent

The Doctrine of Precedent requires that 'like cases be decided

alike'. If a case now before the court has facts and raises issues

similar to those of a previously decided case, then the present case

will be decided in the same way as the earlier one. In this way, the

earlier case, referred to as 'a precedent' will have provided a legal

basis on which the latter case and subsequent cases could be decided1

. Generally, lower courts are bound to follow the decisions of courts

higher than them in the same hierarchy. With the abolition of all

avenues of appeals to the Privy Council, the High Court is the most

superior court in Australia2 . The closely connected principle of

stare decisis is defined as 'the policy of courts to stand by

precedent and not to disturb a settled point'3 .

In Australia, there is still a need to maintain the use of

such as the rejection of Terra Nullius by the international Court in

Springall, R. 'Stare Decisis as applied by the High Court' (1978) 9

Cullen, R. 'Mabo v Queensland' (1990) 20 (1) University of Western

become harder to justify. Where the court does make decisions

Starke, J. 'Criteria according to which a final appellate court will

not discard the Doctrine of Precedent. Furthermore this may be

earlier decision of the court'16 . When the court does overturn and

that a Justice may give effect to his own opinions in preference to an

3 H. Black, Black's Law Dictionary (5th ed., St Paul: West Publishing

Some believe the Doctrine of Precedent brings inflexibility

Goldstein, L. Precedent in Law. Oxford: Oxford Clarenden Press, 1987.

and limits the Court's ability to adopt rapid changes in society. Such

role and public expectations of judges as to their impartiality and

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1772
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)