Common Law

The English legal system built by judges through precedent

Overview

After the Norman Conquest, royal justices carried a common body of law across England, gradually unifying local custom through writs and precedent. Common law grows case by case, like cases decided alike, and vests authority in decided cases rather than codes alone. Carried by empire to America, India, and much of the Commonwealth, it now governs roughly a third of humanity. Its hallmarks are oral adversarial trial, juries, and the doctrine of precedent. Its history is taught through the year books, the reports of Plowden and Coke, and millions of later cases.