And still, the judge’s authority only extends to the matters before him. No one says that in making that decision no reference can be made to precedent, or to the common law. Or that other judges can’t reference his decision in this particular case in the future.
But you know as well as I do that the application of precedent in the real world is arbitrary and capricious. When they want to apply it, they do. When they don’t want to, they don’t.
Or, maybe I’m missing your point. Correct me if I am, please.
We explicitly adopted the English common law system which had a long history of precedent which applies to all civil cases. So, when an appeals court makes a ruling, the ruling is precedent for all subsequent cases coming through courts under the jurisdiction of that court.