Criteria for Selecting Case Law in Some Countries and Lessons for Vietnam

Abstract

In most countries around the world, case law plays an increasingly important role. This is caused by defects in written law. In cases where the law has no regulations or unclear regulations, the Judge is considered an additional legislator, or in other words, the Judge has the role of creating the law when providing solutions to resolve the specific cases. Therefore, the construction and promulgation of precedents to serve trials in other countries has been and is receiving increasing attention. However, not all legally effective judgments and decisions of Courts at all levels become precedents. For a judgment or decision to become case law, it must meet certain selection criteria. In different countries, the criteria for selecting case law will also be different. However, with the trend of convergence, criteria for selecting case law of countries generally have some similarities. The article introduces the concept of case law; analyzes criteria for selecting case law of some countries around the world and draws some lessons for Vietnam.