Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The doctrine or principle that precedent should determine legal decision making in a case involving similar facts.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law The principle of following judicial precedent.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin stāre dēcīsīs (et nōn quiēta movēre), to stand by things decided (and not to move things at rest), stāre, to stand, dēcīsīs, ablative neuter pl. of dēcīsus, past participle of dēcīdere, to decide; see decide.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin stāre ("to stand”; “to stay”, “to remain"), present active infinitive form of stō ("I stand”; “I stay”, “I remain") + dēcīsīs = “let the decision stand”.

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