Towards binding precedents in Chile?

Abstract

The following essay attempts to tackle the Chilean debate regarding judicial reform and precedents, providing a counterpoint with the function and operation of precedents in the English common law, thus allowing for demystification of several common places in the local literature regarding said common law precedents. This exercise suggests that a system of binding precedents is not an adequate solution for the problems that the local literature correctly identifies regarding the Chilean judiciary. Several alternative solutions are proposed, which, at the same time, preserve the central role that legislation plays in a democratic state under the rule of law.