What is precedent and what role does it play in the Czech legal system?

Why is there any talk of precedents at all?

Precedents are legal terms that sound technical, but in fact touch everyday life far more than most people realise. Just watch the media coverage of well-known cases – for example, a decision on compensation for a work injury, a dispute over a lease termination or a landmark verdict of the Constitutional Court. Journalists will often say that “this judgment may set a precedent”. For the average person, this means only one thing: if a court has ruled a certain way once, it may rule similarly the next time.

The reason why precedent is mentioned so much has to do with the fact that law is not just a set of paragraphs, but also the way laws are interpreted and applied in specific situations. Indeed, the law cannot anticipate every possible circumstance in life. That is why courts often supplement legal rules with their decisions, which then serve as inspiration for other cases.

Precedent is therefore of particular importance in that it brings a certain certainty and predictability. People want to know if they have a chance of success when they are suing their employer, landlord or insurance company. And it is precedent that suggests how the courts have judged similar situations.

If you’ve ever wondered whether a court can rule based on how it’s been decided before, then you’re actually questioning the role of precedent.

So what is precedent?

Precedent is a court decision that has relevance to other similar cases. Simply put: If a court resolves a legal issue and its decision becomes an important guide, other courts can refer to it later. The word precedent comes from the Latin term praecedere, meaning to precede. Precedent is therefore something that has happened before and may affect the future.

It is important to distinguish between a common judgment and a precedent. Every court makes many decisions, but only some of them have a wider impact. As a rule, the judgments of higher courts, the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court become precedents because it is their conclusions that have an impact on the unification of practice.

Let us imagine a simple example: an employer gives notice to an employee but fails to give the correct reasons. The employee goes to court and the Supreme Court decides that the termination is invalid because it contravenes the Labour Code. This verdict may set a precedent, because from then on it will be referred to by other employees in similar situations.

The precedent is therefore that the court decision is not just an answer to one particular dispute, but can unify decision-making practice. In this sense, precedent helps the law to function in a lively, flexible and fair way.

Precedent and case law in the world

To understand the Czech approach to precedents, it is useful to look at legal systems around the world. There are two main models: continental law and case law.

Precedent law, known as common law, is typical of countries such as the UK, the United States or Canada. In these systems, court decisions have binding force. If a higher court rules a certain way, the lower courts are obliged to follow it. Here, precedent is the main source of law alongside statutes.

For example, in the US, a Supreme Court decision can create a rule that applies to the whole country. A historically famous precedent, for example, was the Brown v. Board of Education verdict, which led to the abolition of racial segregation in schools.

In contrast, the continental system, to which the Czech Republic belongs, is based primarily on written laws. The basic rules are to be found in the Civil Code, the Criminal Code or other legislation. Court decisions play an important role here, but formally they are not the main source of law.

However, this does not mean that precedent does not exist in our country. It just has a different nature. Czech precedent is a strong argument and a guide rather than an absolutely binding rule. Nevertheless, it is very influential in practice, because courts do not want to rule completely differently in similar cases.

Is there case law in the Czech Republic?

The Czech Republic is not a classical case law system like the USA or England. If we stick to pure theory, then Czech law is based on statutes and court decisions are merely the application of these statutes to specific situations. Nevertheless, Czech legal practice often deals with concepts such as precedent or precedent.

Czech courts rely on so-called case law, i.e. a body of previous decisions. Case law is not officially binding in the sense of “you must decide the same way”, but it has very strong authority. If the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled in a certain way, this approach becomes an established practice that lower courts usually respect.

The Constitutional Court has an even stronger position. Its rulings are binding on all public authorities. For example, if the Constitutional Court decides that a certain interpretation of a law violates fundamental rights, the courts must follow it.

Thus, the precedent in Czech law is not that a judgment automatically creates new law, but that court decisions shape interpretation and unify practice. Precedent law does not formally exist in the Czech Republic, but precedents are increasingly applied in practice.

When can one judgment really be a precedent?

Not every judgment is a precedent. Most court decisions concern common disputes and do not have a wider impact. Precedents are mainly decisions that solve a new legal problem or unify a previously unclear practice.

These are typically situations where the law is not clear or where a new social reality emerges that the law has yet to capture. For example, issues related to digital technologies, protection of personal data or compensation for infringement of personality rights.

The Supreme Court’s decisions often become the precedent, as it is the Supreme Court that unifies practice. The rulings of the Constitutional Court carry even more weight, as they can influence not only individual cases but also entire legal provisions.

A fundamental precedent can change the way courts assess, for example, liability for damages, interpretation of contracts or consumer protection. Such judgments tend to be cited in other proceedings and in the literature.

Why precedents are important to ordinary people

You may be wondering why a precedent should be of interest to someone who is not a lawyer. But it is often precedent that decides how a court will turn out. If there is settled case law in similar cases, your litigation can be significantly more predictable.

For example, precedent helps in situations where you are suing to invalidate a notice, resolving a neighbor dispute, or seeking damages. In such cases, a lawyer not only looks for paragraphs, but also key Supreme Court or Constitutional Court decisions that can support your case.

Legal representation is especially important if your dispute is complex, the opposing side has its own lawyers, or if you want to use precedent as an argument. In fact, the correct application of case law often requires specialist knowledge – it is not enough to just “find a judgment on the internet”, but to understand its meaning and apply it accurately.

If you want to know what precedents can play in your favor, contact us. We can help you evaluate the chances and prepare a strategy.

Summary

A precedent is a judicial decision that is relevant to other similar cases because it can serve as a guide for future court decisions and contribute to the certainty and predictability of the law. Precedents are often referred to, especially in the case of important judgments of the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court, which unify judicial practice and help to interpret the law in situations that are not clearly covered by sections. Unlike countries such as the USA or the UK, where case law (common law) operates and court decisions are binding sources of law, the Czech Republic belongs to a continental system based primarily on written laws. Nevertheless, Czech courts work with case law as an authoritative set of previous decisions, which they usually follow in order to avoid differences in similar cases. However, not every judgment becomes a precedent – decisions dealing with new legal issues or situations where it is necessary to unify a previously unclear interpretation of the law, for example in the field of digital technologies or personality protection, are of particular importance. Precedents are also important for ordinary people as they can influence the outcome of litigation and are often used by lawyers as a key argument in defending clients’ rights, especially in more complex cases where a correct knowledge of case law significantly increases the chances of success.