Precedent in civil law systems: between casuistry and uniformity

Abstract

Uniformity of judicial decisions is a desired value that supreme courts are meant to achieve by different procedures, in almost all legal systems. Some of them favour the issuing of general rulings about the meaning of legal norms and can be so connected with legal universalism. The paper explores the contrast between that paradigm and the particularistic one, which assumes instead that the concrete circumstances of the case on trial sholud be considered in the interpretation of legal norms.