Lexic.us

Definition of Common law

1. Noun. (civil law) a law established by following earlier judicial decisions.

2. Noun. A system of jurisprudence based on judicial precedents rather than statutory laws. "Common law originated in the unwritten laws of England and was later applied in the United States"

Definition of Common law

1. Noun. (legal) Law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals (also called case law), as distinguished from legislative statutes or regulations promulgated by the executive branch. ¹

2. Noun. (legal) typically in the phrase "common law system" -- a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law (in sense 1), as opposed to a civil law, Islamic law, and Soviet law systems. ¹

3. Noun. (legal) typically in the phrase "common law jurisdiction" -- a jurisdiction that uses a common law system (in sense 2), United Kingdom and most of its former colonies and possessions, including the United States. ¹

4. Noun. (legal) (archaic) one of two legal systems in England and in the United States before 1938 (the other being "equity"). ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Common Law

common intermediate common interosseous artery common ion effect common ivy common jasmine common juniper common kestrel common kestrels common kingsnake common knowledge

common laburnum common lady's-slipper common land common lavender common lavenders common law (current term) common lettuce common lilac common limb of membranous semicircular ducts common limpet

common logarithm common loon common loons common louse common lynx common mackerel common madia common maidenhair common mallow common man

Literary usage of Common law

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery: During by Great Britain Court of Chancery, Edward Thurlow Thurlow, Alexander Wedderburn Rosslyn, Jonathan Cogswell Perkins (1844)
"Executory devises not to be governed by the rules of law as to common law conveyances; but the question is, whether they are to happen within a reasonable ..."

2. The American Historical Review by American Historical Association (1903)
"Just when writs of this sort began to issue at common law is uncertain, ... The common law nature of the writ has been recognized by English and American ..."

3. Legal and Political Status of Women in Iowa: An Historical Account of the by Ruth Augusta Gallaher (1918)
"Little by little much of the common law discriminating between men and women has been superseded by statute law, until now, especially in Commonwealths like ..."

4. Cases and Opinions on Constitutional Law: And Various Points of English by William Forsyth (1869)
"WEST, Counsel to the Board of Trade (afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland), that the common law of England is the common law of the Colonies. ..."

5. The American Journal of International Law by American Society of International Law (1919)
"As early as 1910 the Supreme Court of the Canal Zone announced that it would look to the common law in the construction of the Colombia statutes, ..."

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