Prerequisites for a Supreme Court to Overrule its Binding Legal Opinions

Abstract

The paper aims at developing recommendations for improving procedural laws and guiding case law related to reasons for a supreme court to overrule its universally binding legal opinions with a particular emphasis on relevant Ukrainian legal context as a perfectly illustrative example. This research purpose prompts the reliance on a set of appropriate scientific methods of descriptive and comparative law research including the comparative analysis itself as a fundamental instrument for review of relevant legal material, as well as the structural, analytical and law-in-context scientific methods. The paper covers, in particular, a)Ukrainian statutory framework and case law regulating of the Supreme Court of Ukraine's departure from its legal opinions; b)concepts of overrulingprecedents of the highest courts of the most developed countries with common law legal system; c)current views of scientific community and prospects of development of the relevant case lawon Supreme Court of Ukraineoverruling its legal opinions.The authors maintain that it is extremely important to substantiate compelling reasons for a supreme court to review its vision of the correct application of the Law, exposing the reasons for considering the previous one defective, to the extent that it leads tofundamental negative consequences.