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Do county courts throughout the London area share any closer of a connection than do a county court in Bristol and one in York?

And how do they all bind each other?

It has been said in past answers that all county courts in England are in fact just one big county court in multiple locations.

In this sense then why wouldn’t a CJ in York not bind a DJ or DDJ in London or Bristol?

Otherwise, going back to the titular question, does a CJ in Willesden bind a DJ in Central London CC (ie the old Bailey)?

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    There are five questions above, but the bottom-line question "does a CJ in Willesden bind a DJ in Central London CC" is answered here - Does a circuit judge’s decision in Birmingham bind a district judge in London?
    – Jen
    Mar 18 at 16:43
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    No @Jen, I would strongly disagree. It doesn’t give any meaningfully informative answer at all. It just says “maybe yes maybe no”. It doesn’t even say “it depends,” much less what it might depend on. Mar 18 at 17:18
  • There may be separate distinct questions but they are closely enough related that any good quality answer that addressed the issue in sufficient depth could easily cover all of them. Good answers tend to really zoom out on the reasons for things and the overall situation making something so. Mar 18 at 17:20
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    The linked question is about a related, but significantly different issue. An answer might cover both, but a good answer to this question might well not answer the linked question. This should not be closed as a dup. Mar 20 at 2:19

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A court is not bound by its own precedent

A court only binds courts lower in the hierarchy. The County Court in England and Wales is the lowest court in the hierarchy. As such, its decisions bind nobody.

It is also not a court of record so its decisions are not formally published so that they can be referred to as persuasive precedent on itself - the decisions are typically only given to the participants. A lawyer could argue that the court should follow its own decisions if they managed to get hold of one but each judge has the power to choose not to.

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  • I thought a court of record is one where there is a transcript of oral proceedings, not where there is no published record of decisions? Mar 20 at 13:18
  • Furthermore if what you say is true of the county court then why do we have decisions of bower v Brewdog or Lowe v Charterhouse? Mar 20 at 13:18

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