What is the meaning of doctrine of precendent?

Answer 1

The doctrine of precedent means the collection of court cases concerning a specific issue that arises in society. These cases are summarized and condensed in such publications as "Restatement of Torts, 2nd ed" which is a very handy reference book. The cases summarized here are called precedents and are referred to by all following cases in various courts especially the U.S. Supreme Court which sets the highest precedent. There is a doctrine called "Stare Decisis" which means "let the decision stand" that is, let the previous decisions alone, they don't need to be changed. However, after a long period of time passes, societal situations and conditions change so the precedents don't apply any longer and are eventually overturned. One of the most important discarding of precedent was the "Brown v. The Board of Education" which eliminated segregated schools and overturned "Plessy v. Furguson" which propounded separate but equal because although the schools were separate, they were not equal.