Authorities may have weight when primary sources are absent, unclear, or incomplete, but they are never binding, and they are neither necessary nor sufficient as the basis for a judicial decision.
The various types of enacted law form a hierarchy with the constitution at the pinnacle, followed by legislation, then by executive decrees, then by administrative regulations, and finally by local ordinances.
Parliamentary legislation, including the Civil and Commercial codes, is today the principal source of law in the Dominican Republic.
They are characterized as such by some French and Dominican scholars in discussions of the judicial doctrine of abuse of rights and the expansion of the notion of unjust enrichment.
Dominican judicial decisions have de facto weight in order to provide reasonable certainty and predictability; to meet the elementary demand of fairness that like cases be treated alike; and the related, but distinct, consideration that justice should not only be done, but should appear to have been done.
The weight attached by judges to doctrinal writing varies according to a number of circumstances, including the reputation of the author and whether the view expressed is an isolated one or represents the consensus of the most respected writers.