​KembaraXtra – Legal Terms – Overrule


To overrule means for a higher court to declare that a legal principle established in an earlier case is incorrect and should no longer be followed.


This occurs within the system of judicial *precedent.


Generally, only a court higher in the judicial hierarchy can overrule the decisions of lower courts.


Overruling changes the law for future cases, although it does not necessarily alter the outcome of the original case itself.


It differs from reversal, which occurs when an appellate court changes the result of a lower court’s decision in the same proceedings.