Editing Legal doctrine (section)

{{Short description|Set of rules or procedures through which judgements can be determined in a legal case}}
{{redirect|Principle of law|other uses|law (principle)}}

A '''legal doctrine''' is a framework, set of rules, [[Procedural law|procedural]] steps, or [[Test (law)|test]], often established through [[precedent]] in the [[common law]], through which judgments can be determined in a given [[legal case]]. For example, a doctrine comes about when a judge makes a ruling where a process is outlined and applied, and allows for it to be [[Case law|equally applied to like cases]]. When enough judges make use of the process, it may become established as the ''[[de facto]]'' method of deciding like situations.