Precedent and the law

This volume contains the general report and the national reports on the subject "Precedent and the Law", which were submitted to the world congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law held in Utrecht in 2006.

Precedent is often considered a major distinction mark between the civil law and the common law. But is this still the case ? In common law jurisdictions the sharp edges of "stare decisis" seem to water down, whereas civil law jurisdictions now do admit that precedents - at least de facto - constitute a source of law. Convergence, however, would be too strong a word to characterise these tendencies. These reports throw light on this issue.