Commanding precedent

{{Technical|date=May 2019}}

In law, a commanding precedent is a precedent whose facts are "on all fours" with the case at hand. In other words, it almost exactly tracks it, sharing near-identical facts and issues.{{citation|title=Precedent: What it is and What it Isn't; When Do We Kiss it and When Do We Kill it?|author=Ruggero J. Aldisert|publisher=Pepperdine Law Review|volume=17|number=605|date=1990|ssrn=1410783}} A commanding precedent is also referred to as a "Goose" case in Louisiana;{{cite court|litigants=United States v. Gaber|vol=745|reporter=F.2d|opinion=952|court=5th Cir.|date=1984}} "Spotted Horse" or "Spotted Dog" cases in Alabama;{{cite court|litigants=Hand v. International Chemical Workers Union|vol=681|reporter=F.2d|opinion=1308|court=11th Cir.|date=1982}} "Cow" case in Kansas;{{cite court|litigants=Somers v. Harris Trust & Savings Bank|vol=566|reporter=P.2d|opinion=775|court=Kan.Ct.App.|date=1977}} and "White Horse" or "White Pony" cases in Texas.{{cite court|litigants=Wood v. Texas|vol=632|reporter=S.W.2d|opinion=734|court=Tex.Crim.App.|date=1982}} A legal rule can be "clearly established" without commanding precedent existing. For example, in the United States, a governmental official is generally protected by qualified immunity if his acts were objectively legally reasonable, but such protection may not apply if, in light of pre-existing law, the unlawfulness of his conduct would have been apparent to a reasonably competent official, even if no commanding precedent applicable to his specific behavior existed.{{cite court|litigants=Morris v. Dearborne|date=July 16, 1999|url=http://openjurist.org/181/f3d/657/jim-morris-gloria-morris-v-charlotte-hawkins-dearborne-et-al|vol=181|reporter=F3d|opinion=657|court=5th Cir.}}