Stare Decisis Archives

A Smaller Bench Cannot Hollow Out a Larger Bench Decision Without Expressly Disagreeing: Supreme Court on Judicial Discipline in UAPA Bail Cases

Emphasising judicial discipline, the Court expressed serious reservations about Division Bench decisions in Gulfisha Fatima, 2026 SCC OnLine SC 10 and Gurwinder Singh, (2024) 5 SCC 403 for making a clear departure from ratio laid down by the three-Judge Bench in K.A. Najeeb, (2021) 3 SCC 713.

Case Briefs Supreme Court

“Law can’t change with change of Bench”; Supreme Court directs refund to Adani Power; quashes customs duty on electricity supplied from SEZ to DTA

“The discipline of precedent is not a matter of personal predilection; it is an institutional necessity. Stare decisis et non quieta movere… is a working rule which secures stability, predictability and respect for judicial outcomes. The law cannot change with the change of the Bench.”

Case Briefs High Courts

‘Parens Patriae obligates Court to ensure justice not reduced to mere private settlement’; P&H HC refuses to quash abetment to suicide case on basis of compromise

“By allowing legal heirs to settle such cases unilaterally, the justice system would fail in its duty to hold perpetrators accountable, since the crime does not affect only the family but has wider ramifications for society at large.”

Case Briefs Foreign Courts

“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women…we dissent.” Read SCOTUS dissent on Right to Abortion case

“After today, young women will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had”.

Case Briefs Foreign Courts

SCOTUS| United States’ Constitution does not confer any right to abortion; Roe v. Wade overruled after 49 years

Supreme Court of The United States: In a far-reaching decision concerning an American woman’s right to abortion, the Court held that the

Case Briefs Supreme Court

Dismissal of SLP by reasoned order would not attract doctrine of merger but will be binding on all courts/tribunals in India

Supreme Court: Explaining the doctrine of merger in case of dismissal of Special Leave Petitions (SLPs), the bench of L. Nageswara Rao

Case Briefs Foreign Courts

SCOTUS | Louisiana’s Act 620 declared unconstitutional as it imposes a severe burden on women for access to abortion

Supreme Court of the United States: While looking into the validity of Louisiana’s Act 620 laying out certain laws for abortion, the

Op Eds OP. ED.

Per Incuriam – An Analysis

by Karl Shroff*

High Courts

Decree or Order of Supreme Court in exercise of its extraordinary power does not lay down precedent for subordinate courts

Rajasthan High Court: The division bench comprising of Atul Kumar Jain and Govind Mathur, JJ, on reference of the matter by the