Article 141 is a fundamental provision within the Indian Constitution, specifically located in Part V, Chapter IV, which deals with The Union Judiciary. It is the constitutional mandate for the doctrine of precedent or stare decisis in India. The provision states that the "law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India".
The concept's history traces back to the Government of India Act, 1935, which made the decisions of the Federal Court and the Privy Council binding on all other courts in British India. After independence, Article 141 was enforced when the Constitution came into force in 1950, strengthening the status of judicial precedents. The draft provision, Draft Article 117, was adopted by the Assembly on May 27, 1949, to ensure uniformity and consistency in the application of laws across the nation.
The mechanism of Article 141 works by binding all subordinate courts, including High Courts, to the Supreme Court's legal interpretations. However, only the ratio decidendi—the core legal reasoning—is binding, not the obiter dictum (remarks made in passing). The Supreme Court itself is not bound by its own decisions and retains the authority to overrule them, a principle clarified in the debate on Draft Article 117 and affirmed in Bengal Immunity Co. V State of Bihar (AIR 1955 SC 661). Furthermore, a decision that lacks legal reasoning is not considered "law declared" under Article 141, as held in State of U.P. v. Synthetics & Chemicals Ltd. (1991).
Article 141 connects directly to the hierarchical structure of the judiciary and the Parliament's legislative power, as Parliament can override a judicial precedent by enacting new legislation. While the Article itself has not been amended, its importance was recently underscored in November 2025, when the Supreme Court expressed concern over a "growing trend" of succeeding benches overturning previous verdicts, stating that such practices undermine the authority invested in its decisions under Article 141.