A court giving reasons for its decision in one case is announcing reasons that will apply in subsequent cases. Because reasons are always more general than the outcomes that they are reasons for, courts will often try to assess whether the reasons they give for a good result in the first case will have the effect of producing less-than-good results in subsequent cases. And courts will sometimes consider reaching the wrong outcome in the case before it in order to avoid laying down a rule that will produce poor outcomes in future cases.

Unknown, Frederick Schauer - Thinkin…, loc. 548