A rule of law which requires a court to perpetuate its previous errors appears to be one which would bear examination. Such a rule is the doctrine of the law of the case. The doctrine is very similar in purpose to that of res judicata. Both are doctrines of repose, expressions of a policy of the law that the litigation of a controversy should terminate when the parties have had their day in court. Very generally, the doctrine of res judicata is designed to.prevent further litigation of a cause of action which has terminated and merged into a final judgement. The law of the case doctrine is designed to produce the same result within litigation not yet carried to a final judgement. It precludes further consideration of certain questions which have been prosecuted to what might be termed a final judgement, either because the remedies provided for review of the decision of those questions have been exhausted or because those remdies have not been pursued and have ceased to be available.
William S. Stinnette,
The Law of the Case Doctrine,
28 Wash. L. Rev. & St. B.J.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol28/iss2/5