Other Relevant decisions and Rules laid down by House of Lords
Rule of Stare Decisis: Distinguishing cases into four Categories
In delivering the Judgment of this Court in Young v. Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited [1]King's Bench, at page 725) LORD GREENE, Master of the Rolls, thus stated the effect of the rule stare decisis in its application to the Court of Appeal:
"In considering the question whether or not this court is bound by its previous decisions and those of courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction, it is necessary to distinguish four classes of case. The first is that with which we are now concerned, namely, cases where this court finds itself confronted with one or more decisions of its own or of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction which cover the question before it and there is no conflicting decision of this court or of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction. The second is where there is such a conflicting decision. The third is where this court comes to the conclusion that a previous decision, although not expressly overruled, cannot stand with a subsequent decision of the House of Lords. The fourth (a special case) is where this court comes to the conclusion that a previous decision was given per incuriam[2]. In the second and third classes of case it is beyond question that the previous decision is open to examination. In the second class, the court is unquestionably entitled to choose between the two conflicting decisions. In the third class of case the court is merely giving effect to what it considers to have been a decision of the House of Lords by which it is bound. The fourth class requires more detailed examination and we will refer to it again later in this judgment."
"It remains to consider the quite recent case of Lancaster Motor Company (London) v. Bremith Limited, in which a court consisting of the present Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Clauson and Lord Justice Goddard, declined to follow an earlier decision of a court consisting of Lord Justice Slesser and Lord Justice Romer. This was clearly a case where the earlier decision was given per incuriam. It depended on the true meaning (which in the later decision was regarded as clear beyond argument) of a rule of the Supreme Court to which the court was apparently not referred and which it obviously had not in mind. The Rules of the Supreme Court have statutory force and the court is bound to give effect to them as to a statute. Where the court has construed a statute or a rule having the force of a statute its decision stands on the same footing as any other decision on a question of law, but where the court is satisfied that an earlier decision was given in ignorance of the terms of a statute or a rule having the force of a statute the position is very different. It cannot, in our opinion, be right to say that in such a case the court is entitled to disregard the statutory provision and is bound to follow a decision of its own given when that provision was not present to its mind. Cases of this description are examples of decisions given per incuriam. We do not think that it would be right to say that there may not be other cases of decisions given per incuriam in which this court might properly consider itself entitled not to follow an earlier decision of its own. Such cases would obviously be of the rarest occurrence and must be dealt with in accordance with their special facts. Two classes of decisions per incuriam fall outside the scope of our inquiry, namely, those where the court has acted in ignorance of a previous decision of its own or of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction which covers the case before it - in such a case a subsequent court must decide which of the two decisions it ought to follow; and those where it has acted in ignorance of a decision of the House of Lords which covers the point - in such a case a subsequent court is bound by the decision of the House of Lords.[3]”
On a careful examination of the whole matter we have come to the clear conclusion that this court is bound to follow previous decisions of its own as well as those of courts of coordinate jurisdiction. The only exceptions to this rule (two of them apparent only) are those already mentioned which for convenience we here summarise:
(1) The court is entitled and bound to decide which of two conflicting decisions of its own it will follow.
(2) The court is bound to refuse to follow a decision of its own which, though not expressly overruled, cannot, in its opinion, stand with a decision of the House of Lords.
[1] Young v. Bristol Aeroplane Company Limited (1944, 1 King's Bench, at page 725)
[2] Per Incuriam: Literally translated as "through lack of care", per incuriam refers to a judgment of a court which has been decided without reference to a statutory provision or earlier judgment which would have been relevant. The significance of a judgment having been decided per incuriam is that it does not then have to be followed as precedent by a lower court. Ordinarily, in the common law, the rationes of a judgment must be followed thereafter by lower courts hearing similar cases. A lower court is free, however, to depart from an earlier judgment of a superior court where that earlier judgment was decided per incuriam.The Court of Appeal in Morelle Ltd v. Wakeling [1955] 1 All ER 708, [1955] 2 QB 379 stated that as a general rule the only cases in which decisions should be held to have been given per incuriam are those of decisions given in ignorance or forgetfulness of some inconsistent statutory provision or of some authority binding on the court concerned: so that in such cases some part of the decision or some step in the reasoning on which it is based is found, on that account, to be demonstrably wrong.In R v. Northumberland Compensation Appeal Tribunal, ex parte Shaw [1951], 1 All ER 268, a divisional court of the King's Bench Division declined to follow a Court of Appeal decision on the ground that the decision had been reached per incuriam as a relevant House of Lords decision had not been cited to the Court of Appeal.Some academic critics have suggested that Polemis [1921] 3 KB 560 was decided per incuriam as it did not rely upon the earlier decision in Hadley v. Baxendale.[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_incuriam]
[3] Ctations and punctuations omitted.
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