JUDICIAL PRECEDENT IN THE SYSTEM OF SOURCES OF LAW: SOME FEATURES AND DIFFERENCES FROM SOME OTHER PROCEDURAL INSTITUTIONS

This article briefly analyzes the sources of law used in modern legal systems, analyzes the understanding and application of judicial precedent as a source of law in Anglo-American, religious (mixed) and continental legal systems. The characteristic features and peculiarities of understanding judicial precedent in these systems are highlighted. It is revealed that understanding in the continental legal system is exclusively as judicial practice, which is not formally mandatory, but is enforced by courts, unlike Anglo-American legal and some mixed legal systems, which understand judicial precedent as creating a new legally binding norm. A comparison of the judicial precedent with the institution of prejudice in Russian civil law is made.