... by judge must rely on legal reasoning. In the hierarchy of courts in Australia, the High Court of Australia is the final appellate court. Appellate courts hear appeals of inferior courts decisions to determine whether there were errors of law in the inferior court decision, such as in the admission of evidence or in jury instructions; Decisions of superior courts are binding on inferior courts in the same hierarchy. Operation of doctrine of precedent The Doctrine of Precedent requires that 'like cases be decided alike'. If a case now before the court has facts and raises issues similar to those of a previously decided case, then the present case will be decided in the same way as the earlier one. In this way, the earlier case, referred to as 'a precedent' will have provided a legal basis on which the latter case and subsequent cases could be decided (G. Bird, The Process ...

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