Stare decisis and legal precedent are both legal concepts used to guide judicial decisions; however, there are several key differences between the two. Stare decisis is Latin for “to stand by things decided” and it refers to the principle that courts should follow prior court rulings or judgments in similar cases. This means that current judges must abide by previous rulings when making a decision on a case unless they can find a clear reason why those earlier rulings don’t apply.

Legal precedent on the other hand, refers to how past court decisions are incorporated into future cases in order to create consistency and fairness within the law. This concept allows judges to make decisions based on existing precedents which have already been established as well as creating new ones if none exist already.

Overall these two concepts are important for ensuring stability within our legal systems since they provide guidance for making consistent judgements while also providing protection from any potential bias or prejudice which may occur if each case was decided differently without this framework!