Lat.: to stand by that which was decided. Rule by which common lawcourts are reluctant to interfere with principles announced in former decisions and therefore rely upon judicialprecedent as a compelling guide to decision of cases raising issues similar to those in previous cases.
EXAMPLE:
A state supreme court rules that a person's privacy interests demand court protection of telephone toll records from police investigations. Several years later, the issue is brought back to the court. The prosecutor claims that other states allow the records to be used without interference in privacy and that other privacy protections can be employed if necessary. Even if some new members of the court agree with the prosecutor, the court most likely will apply stare decisis and abide by the previous decision.
"Under the established federal legal system the decisions of one circuit are not binding on other circuits. "[I]t is common knowledge that the decisions of the court of appeals for one circuit are not binding upon the courts of appeals for other circuits." 1B J. Moore, Federal Practice ¶ 04.02[1] (1980)
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We tend to think of stare decisis as only "it is decided." The full phrase is stare decisis et non quieta movere — "to adhere to precedents and not to unsettle things which are established." The prospect of decades of writing on a clean slate in pursuit of the possibility that in some case or cases we might find a rule we like better (or even conclude that an old Fifth Circuit decision is wrong) is at best unappealing, at worst catastrophic."
Congratulations! You're now booked up on what Stare Decisis means!
You'll probably need to reference a legal glossary during your pursuit of justice.
