The non-retroactive application of the rule declared by the court in its judgment is a practice known in several legal systems belonging both to the common law area and to that of civil law. It is applied in different contexts and in various ways. In some cases, the court’s power to issue rules for the future is expressly established by legal provisions; in all other cases, it is considered a prerogative implicitly connected to the exercise of judicial activity. A defi ning feature of every instance of this practice is its exceptional nature and its capacity to confl ict with foundational principles of Western legal systems. As a result, as demonstrated by comparative analysis, there is diffi culty in identifying unequivocal trends in the development of this phenomenon across different systems.
Mutamento pro futuro del case-law: un puzzle difficile da comporre
Bruno Meoli
2025
Abstract
The non-retroactive application of the rule declared by the court in its judgment is a practice known in several legal systems belonging both to the common law area and to that of civil law. It is applied in different contexts and in various ways. In some cases, the court’s power to issue rules for the future is expressly established by legal provisions; in all other cases, it is considered a prerogative implicitly connected to the exercise of judicial activity. A defi ning feature of every instance of this practice is its exceptional nature and its capacity to confl ict with foundational principles of Western legal systems. As a result, as demonstrated by comparative analysis, there is diffi culty in identifying unequivocal trends in the development of this phenomenon across different systems.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
