Overview
Where Doctrine Holds, and Where It Gives
One Hundred Years of Stare Decisis traces the operation of precedent in American common law across a century of doctrinal development. Inkwell and Halvorsen treat stare decisis not as a static rule but as a dynamic system that absorbs, transmits, and occasionally rejects the legal materials it inherits.
The book combines doctrinal analysis with historical case study, drawing on both federal and state common law traditions. Chapters address the structural function of precedent, the conditions under which courts depart from established doctrine, the role of dicta and persuasive authority in shaping later rulings, and the institutional pressures that produce doctrinal drift over time.
Scholarly and Practical Reach
Written as a collaborative work between practicing attorney and legal scholar, the book operates simultaneously as a reference for litigators evaluating precedential strength and as a contribution to the academic literature on common law methodology. The doctrinal chapters draw on more than 1,500 cases from federal and state appellate authority spanning the early twentieth century through the publication date.
The book remains the definitive work of Phineas E. Inkwell's scholarly career and stands as one of the firm's signature legacy publications. It is cited regularly in appellate briefing and law review articles addressing precedent and doctrinal evolution.
- Publisher
- Budget Bench Press ↗
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- ISBN
- 978-0-19-967212-4
- Pages
- 528
Authors
Perspective Behind the Pages
Every book here began with sustained attention to a hard question, not a passing opinion. The contributors who follow may be firm attorneys, drawing on judgment built across real matters. Some books also draw on outside scholarship, whose co-authors bring a vantage point of their own. Each brings a distinct hand to the pages ahead.
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