After descibing practical rules of application in different courts, it emphases that the binding part in a precedent actually is ratio decidendi and discusses the method of distincting it. 遵循先例的规则及哲学基础。在介绍了遵循先例原则在不同法院的操作规则后,着重指出先例中具有法律效力的乃是判决理由,并讨论了如何识别判决中的判决理由。
The exposure of ratio decidendi directly decides the justice of procedure, which is the significant content of the open trial. 判理公开是审判公开的重要内容,直接决定了程序的正义性。
In the civil law countries the principle of the objective scope of res judicata is that the judgment in the court verdict is of the effect of res judicata while the judgment in the ratio decidendi is not of the effect of res judicata. 在大陆法系国家,确定既判力客观范围的原则是,法院在判决主文中的判断具有既判力,判决理由中的判断无既判力。