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It is sometimes said that this adherence to precedent is slavish; that it fetters the mind of the judge, and compels him to decide without reference to principle. But let it be remembered that stare decisis is itself a principle of great magnitude and importance.... A palpable mistake, violating justice, reason and law, must be corrected, no matter by whom it may have been made.
Stare decisis was a maxim that did not trouble the average lawyer, for there were few decisions to stand upon. Besides, experience would make good any deficiencies of preparation. The young attorney who opened a law office in the Court House at Jacksonville, bore little resemblance to the forlorn lad who had vainly sought a livelihood there some months earlier.
The general doctrine of the courts, which is commonly expressed by the rule "stare decisis," was never better stated than by Chief Justice Black of Pennsylvania, in these words: When a point has been solemnly ruled by the tribunal of the last resort, after full argument and with the assent of all the judges, we have the highest evidence which can be procured in favor of the unwritten law.
The United States Court records hold that absolute evidence, res adjudicata stare decisis; which means, in plain English, that ends it. It also means that that Indian claimant could not inherit the Loisson estate! "Now here is an unknown woman, whom we will call Delphine, begging Decherd not to forsake her. There would seem to have been a failure on this line of the Decherd investigation.
I would like to concentrate your attention upon the present and practical phase, and to withdraw it for the time from things that are past and cannot be changed. Stare decisis. There are some things settled. Have we not a better and more urgent use for our time now than in showing why some of us would have liked them settled differently?
It is not to be denied that there is some difficulty in stating with accuracy the limits of the rule stare decisis.
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