  By contrast, precedents have practical authority because they are regarded as partly constituting the law. Simplifying somewhat, the law is what the court stated it to be because the court stated it to be such. Putting the matter in these terms is over-simplified, however, because (a) it may be that what the court did, rather than what it said, that alters the law, and (b) there are normally a number of limitations on the capacity of a decision to constitute the law (depending upon the content of the decision and the status of the body making them). An important consequence of precedents' practical authority is this: since courts are bound to apply the law, and since earlier decisions have practical authority over the content of the law (i.e., over what is the law), later courts are bound to follow the decisions of earlier cases. This is commonly known as the doctrine of precedent, or stare decisis (i.e., standing by things decided).