The text distinguishes between Bracton’s use of prior cases to show custom and the later use of citing prior cases as binding (i. e., stare decisis). Explain that distinction

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Bracton was not studying prior cases in order to determine law, but instead was using the prior cases as proof that a legal principle was once applied as custom.
The earlier case was evidence of custom, not itself a source of law. So, court decisions were governed by custom, not by the case or cases cited as proof of that custom.
The movement to modern stare decisis (i.e., citing prior cases as binding) began in the sixteenth century and was established in the seventeenth century when a policy was established that courts were expected to abide by decided cases—that is, when prior cases were considered binding rather than simply evidence of custom.