5 Principle of Stare Decisis and Ratio Decidendi

1. The doctrine: like cases alike — the precedent's authority: the vertical hierarchy (the Supreme Court's binding force — Article 128(3): the SC's interpretations and legal principles "must be followed by all" — the constitutionalized stare decisis of Nepal (verified)); the horizontal practice (the SC's own benches bound by the larger-bench rules — the review-and-full-bench discipline); 2. The anatomy of a precedent: the ratio decidendi (the binding core — the material-facts- linked proposition) vs. the obiter dicta (the by-the-way — persuasive only); the case-note discipline (finding the ratio: the facts-material test); 3. The techniques: following, distinguishing, overruling (the larger-bench route; the bench's-size discipline — the Full-and-Larger-Full-Bench practice of the SC); the sub silentio and the per- incuriam limits; 4. The civil-law contrast (the jurisprudence-constante vs. the single-precedent: Comparative Law's frame) and Nepal's mixed position (the binding-precedent rule in the constitutional text; the case-law's practical authority).