stare decisis definition'
By Tom Head. Definition: Stare decisis (Latin: stand by the decision) is a legal phrase referring to the obligation of courts to honor past precedents. There are essentially two types of stare decisis. One is the obligation that trial courts have to honor the precedents of higher courts. A local trial court in Mississippi cannot legally convict a person for flag desecration, for example, because a higher court--the U.S.