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In the legal world, we often talk about controlling authority and persuasive authority. A court is bound by controlling authority (e.g., a US Supreme Court ruling on an issue of federal law). A court will carefully consider persuasive authority (e.g., a California Court will consider the logic behind a New York court ruling, but is not obligated to follow it).
It seems to me that no-longer-published cases are a form of persuasive authority: as we don't know why they left he book or what may have changed in the interim, they should not be slavishly followed; but since they were controlling at one point, they should be carefully considered before reaching a contrary conclusion.
YMMV.
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