What Exactly is Res Judicata?
For many law students 'res judicata' is just yet another Latin phrase that gets covered a little bit in lectures before dissolving at the back of the brain amongst a wash of other obscure phrases, case law and legislation.
Honestly that is fair enough, the principle just means that a case that has already been decided by the courts shouldn't be re-litigated which seems pretty obvious. If you sue someone and lose you can't just start all over again. Res judicata thus ensures that the courts don't get clogged up with old cases and, more importantly, that proceedings which have exhausted all rights of appeal remain final.
If we dig into this idea it can get a little complicated though. What if the second case is slightly different to the first? How about if there is new evidence?
In this week's episode of the podcast we explore the principle of res judicata through the lens of EU law. If a case has been decided upon by the Court of Justice then what binding effect should that have on proceedings that are currently ongoing in the UK legal system?
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Episode link: http://uklawweekly.com/2020-uksc-44