The Peter A. Allard School of Law Allard Research Commons Faculty Publications Allard Faculty Publications 2007 Precedent Unbound? Contemporary Approaches to Precedent in Canada Debra Parkes Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs Part of the Courts Commons Citation Details Debra Parkes, "Precedent Unbound? Contemporary Approaches to Precedent in Canada" ([forthcoming in 2007]) 32:1 Man LJ 135. This Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Allard Faculty Publications at Allard Research Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Allard Research Commons. Page 1 TITLE: Precedent Unbound? Contemporary Approaches to Precedent in Canada AUTHOR: Debra Parkes SOURCE: Manitoba Law Journal CITED: (2007) 32 Man. L.J. 135 - 162 1 Stare decisis is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase stare decisis et non quieta movere, and may be translated as "to stand by decisions and not to disturb settled matters."1 In Gulliver's Travels, the English satirist Johnathan Swift had Gulliver say: It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may le- gally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the deci- sions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind. These under the name of precedents, they produce as authorities, to justify the most iniquitous opinions; and the judges never fail of decreeing accordingly.2 While the notion that Canadian appellate judges slavishly adhere to outdated precedent in a manner contrary to "common justice and the general re ason of mankind" does not accurately describe the current reality, there remains a lively and important debate about the functions, values and limits of "abiding by things decided" in common law systems.3 In this vein, Justices Steel and Freedman in the recent R.