Question

In 1992, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in a case entitled Goodman v. Wenco Foods,Inc., that when a substance in food causes injury to a consumer of the food, it is not a bar to recovery against the seller that the substance was natural to the food. If, in a 2008 case involving a consumer's injury caused by a fish bone in a bowl of fish chowder, the court followed the decision in Goodman v. Wenco Foods, Inc., the court's action in the second case is an example of:_________.
a. stare decisis.
b. statutory law.
c. public law.
d. criminal law.

Answer 1

Answer: A. Stare decisis

Explanation: Stare decisis simply means aligning with precedence. Stare decisis is a legal culture which necessitates the court to look into preceeding cases when making rulings on similar cases. It obligates the court that when making ruling on a certain cases, rulings preceeding cases of similar nature, fact and structure must be considered.

Therefore, in the scenario given, the court is following legal precedent set by the ruling of a previous case in other to make decision on a current case. Therefore, the second case is an example of stare decisis.