What are the advantages and disadvantages of stare decisis?
A disadvantage is that as life progresses and evolves, the law should too. What was acceptable a hundred years ago might not be in a modern society. The best example is in 1896 the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public facilities was constitutional as long as they were equal. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that seperate but equal facilities were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. In 1956, if the Supreme Court had blindly followed the principle of stare decisis, it would have ruled that segregation was permissible.
