<P> The United States Supreme Court has stated that where a court gives multiple reasons for a given result, each alternative reason that is "explicitly" labeled by the court as an "independent" ground for the decision is not treated as "simply a dictum". </P> <P> The doctrine of binding precedent or stare decisis is basic to the English legal system . Special features of the English legal system include the following: </P> <P> The British House of Lords, as the court of last appeal outside Scotland before it was replaced by the UK Supreme Court, was not strictly bound to always follow its own decisions until the case London Street Tramways v London County Council (1898) AC 375 . After this case, once the Lords had given a ruling on a point of law, the matter was closed unless and until Parliament made a change by statute . This is the most strict form of the doctrine of stare decisis (one not applied, previously, in common law jurisdictions, where there was somewhat greater flexibility for a court of last resort to review its own precedent). </P> <P> This situation changed, however, after the issuance of the Practice Statement of 1966 . It enabled the House of Lords to adapt English law to meet changing social conditions . In R v G & R 2003, the House of Lords overruled its decision in Caldwell 1981, which had allowed the Lords to establish mens rea ("guilty mind") by measuring a defendant's conduct against that of a "reasonable person," regardless of the defendant's actual state of mind . </P>

Is supreme court bound by its own decision