What are the advantages of the doctrine of judicial percedent? are there any disadvantages?

There are numerous advantages to the doctrine of judicial precedent. These advantages include;

1. It leads to certainty, consistency, and uniformity of laws.

2. It helps the court to save time, resources and energy since the court can easily refer an already decided case in which facts are similar to that which it is handling at the time in question.

3. It promotes fairness and justice where the facts of the present case are on all fours with that of an earlier decided case.

4. It leads to the quick and timely dispensation of justice.

The disadvantages are that:

1. It does not give room for judicial activism since it posits that already laid down judicial decision is to be followed, thus preventing legal development and advancement.

2. It leads to rigidity in the legal system and unnecessary restrictions on the advancement of the legal system.

Explanation:

Judicial Precedent otherwise known as the Doctrine of Stare Decisis is the principle of law that posit that court of lower jurisdiction are bound to follow the decisions of courts of higher jurisdiction that are on all fours with the matter that they are handling.

"a problem throughout latin america is widespread poverty. what can those countries improve? the higher the literacy rate" or "education, the lower the rate of poverty".

although the majority of the total population and the population   poor in latin america and the caribbean is in the centers   urban areas, in relative terms poverty remains a   rural phenomenon in the region. the incidence of poverty and   extreme poverty is much greater in rural areas than   in urban areas without going further, in 1997 more than half of the   rural households lived in poverty and about a third in   situation of extreme poverty. in addition, the difficult economic situation   of most of the countries in the region in the past   two years has surely deteriorated those figures. to the poor   of the rural areas of the region are raised at least   three basic problems: i); insufficient nutrition, poor health and   poor educational services; ii); scarce opportunities   productive employment in agriculture and non-agricultural activities;   and iii); low degree of organization to effectively promote   the rural interests. the number and variety of circumstances   that cause rural poverty, as well as heterogeneity   of conditions in which it occurs in different countries   and regions hinder the search for effective solutions and   efficient to raise the welfare of the rural population.  

the mechanisms to reduce poverty are   focuses on three types of important action possibilities and   complementary to generate or raise the income of the poor   of rural areas: one that is based on the growth of   agricultural sector; another that aims at sustainable use and conservation   of natural resources, and the last based on the importance   growing rural economic activities that   they develop outside the agricultural land. there are at least other   two possibilities for reducing rural poverty: the traditional migration to urban areas and assistance to   people who need income transfers to overcome   the poverty threshold or to have a minimum access to   social safety nets.