When Precedents Clash

The article focuses on enhancing case-based reasoning in common law systems by introducing an enriched classifier model that considers court hierarchy and temporal relations. This model aims to formalize overruled and per incuriam cases, ensuring unambiguous decision-making for new cases in the presence of conflicting precedents. It formalizes precedential constraint, considering the legal system's hierarchy and time dimension, to improve AI's role in legal procedures. The paper discusses the doctrine of stare decisis, focusing on vertical and horizontal binding, and addresses overruling of precedents. It introduces a temporal and hierarchical principle for resolving conflicting precedents, ensuring decisions are unambiguous. The text also explores the concept of precedents decided per incuriam, where a case goes against a relevant precedent, questioning its bindingness. The study aims to model the notion of per incuriam, taking into account the hierarchy of courts and the possibility of a court disregarding a per incuriam precedent if it was decided by the same court.