Jurisprudence constante

 (French for "stable jurisprudence", or literally, "constant jurisprudence") is a legal doctrine according to which a long series of previous decisions applying a particular legal principle or rule is highly persuasive but not controlling in subsequent cases dealing with similar or identical issues of law. This doctrine is recognized in most civil law jurisdictions as well as in certain mixed jurisdictions, e.g., Louisiana.
The rule of law applied in the ' directly compares with '. But the Louisiana Supreme Court notes the principal difference between the two legal doctrines: a single court decision can provide sufficient foundation for ""; however, "a
series of adjudicated cases, all in accord, form the basis for '." Moreover, the Louisiana Court of Appeal has explicitly noted that within Louisiana, ' is merely a secondary source of law, which cannot be authoritative and does not rise to the level of "".