Mechanisms of the English common law

In the English system of common law, judges have devised a number of mechanisms to allow them to cope with precedent decisions. These devices let a court work within the doctrine of binding precedent while still adapting the law to a new case, for example by distinguishing an earlier decision on its facts or otherwise narrowing or widening the rule a past case is taken to establish. This is distinct from the common law tradition as a whole: it describes the specific judicial tools English courts use to handle precedent within that tradition. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/